Bound By Fate
by Brenna76
Summary: Bound By Fate, that's what they are. How else can you explain why a demon trapped in a bottle in the forest, promised to whoever frees him, and an outcast of a boy who had never before ventured into the woods, had met each other? Why them? And why now?
1. Demon in the Bottle

_Deak, for your crimes against humanity, you will be imprisoned for one hundred years._

 _But your fate will not reside in this prison, but with the one who frees you from it._

Many have read stories about a human being promised to a demon of some kind, but what if it was the other way around? Allen Walker lived in a small town on the edge of a wood. Even living next to the woods his entire life, Allen had never entered it. The townspeople viewed it as dangerous saying that a demon lived in it.

The people of the town stayed away from Allen and ignored him because of his arm. It was black as coal from the fingernails up to the shoulder blade where it ended in a spiked design. There was a sign reminiscent of a cross on the back of that hand. This was his left arm only, his right arm was normal. However, this was enough to make him sort of an outcast in his village.

It didn't help that he didn't have a family or a home. Allen couldn't remember his parents since he was abandoned on the streets at a really young age, but he suspected it was because of his arm that they left him. He had lived on the streets for most of his life before finding an abandoned cabin a few feet from the forest just under a year ago.

Ever since then, he had been living there, but that could have made him worse off socially than living on the streets had. At least on the streets he was always present and people could see him and, even with his strange appearance, get used to him, but the cabin changed that. He was alone, away from everyone and living in an abandoned cabin made him seem mysterious even scary.

Usually Allen could do odd jobs for a man named Cross who also lived in the town and with that he earned his bread and sometimes he got old clothes from him as well. The man wasn't very nice and worked him to the bone which Allen probably didn't get paid enough for, but he was the only one who wasn't afraid of or hated Allen. Most of anything he was able to gain in his life had come from Cross and, for that, Allen was grateful.

However, a few months ago, Cross left the town. He left a note at his house for Allen saying that he was running from some people he owed money to and that all the food left in the fridge was his. Allen took the food, but lost his appetite knowing that with Cross gone he had really no way of living.

His money had been dwindling since Cross left, but even before he left Allen had to be careful with his spending and most times every stray penny he had went to food. He could never be sure that he would be able to get more money to supplement his food supply so he couldn't afford to spend frivolously.

As winter rolled around and he estimated it was only a few more days before snow started to fall, Allen wouldn't be able to venture out as much as he could throughout the rest of the year. For one thing, it would be harder and more strenuous to travel through snow, especially since their village seemed to be in an area of high levels of the stuff, and, for another, he would likely get sick if he went out in that kind of temperature without proper clothing. Proper clothing which he couldn't afford.

He had very little food left and during this, the hardest time of the year for him, it would soon become close to impossible for him to get more. He would have barely any food or money and Allen didn't feel like dying. His solution? Go into the nearby forest. He really didn't like the idea, but he didn't have a choice. A forest was bound to have animals of some sort and those animals would need food. If Allen was lucky, he might be able to find some nuts or berries or edible plants. He'd even take grass if he had to.

So, that morning, Allen mentally prepared himself to enter the forest. It would be his first time ever and, as far as he knew, it may have been the first time anyone living in the village had entered the woods. Ignoring the popular local rumours that a demon was in there, there could be dangerous animals. Still, Allen knew that it was his only bid for life.

So, Allen went into the woods. He had to admit, it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be. There was a thin blanket of damp grass on the forest floor. The canopy of trees let a bit of the dim winter light filter in. It was very foresty. Water from the chilled, wet earth seeped in through his worn shoes. Allen's thin, tattered and poor clothes barely offered any protection at all from the chilly winter air.

 _I'll have to make this quick._ Allen thought, desperately.

Allen searched and searched, but he found nothing he could eat. He didn't even run into any animals. The cold was becoming unbearable and Allen was about to turn around and go home when he saw something on the ground a way off. It had a shiny appearance and reflected the light that fell upon it. Venturing closer, Allen found that it was a wine bottle.

Since it was in the forest and had therefore been exposed to the elements, the rate of decay was extreme which made it impossible for Allen to tell what brand it was or how long it had been out there, but Allen thought that it might be a very old bottle. Being near Cross, who was a chronic drunk, Allen had gotten to know nearly every brand of wine by their bottle's design and color.

This one, though, he didn't recognize and with the craftsmanship, he thought that it was unlikely it was made recently. Allen picked up the bottle and tilted it, expecting to hear a swishing sound from inside made by either leftover wine or collected rainwater, but he didn't hear anything and nothing moved inside. That was strange since the bottle felt unusually heavy, as if it were full.

 _Maybe it somehow got filled with dirt._ And, thinking that he could sell it for a decent amount of money (albeit much less than it was worth if it really was an antique as it's appearance would suggest) if he could empty it out and clean it, Allen proceeded to unscrew the cork from the bottle. Allen felt a tingling sensation as if something had gone through him.

After opening it, Allen could see that there was nothing inside of it. Not only that, the moment the cork was removed, all of the weight went with it. The bottle now felt as empty as it really was.

 _Am I going crazy? Was I imagining all that weight? The cork weighs nothing so that couldn't be it._ Allen wondered when he felt a chill go up his spine. Allen turned around to look behind him, more so out of precaution rather than any sort of expectation. What he most definitely did not expect was to see someone actually standing behind him.

Allen immediately found himself inches away from a man he didn't hear approach. In panic, Allen leaped back with the intention of putting some distance between him and his assailant, but managed to trip over his feet and fall backward onto the ground. Allen closed his eyes as he fell back. After determining that he lay harmlessly (and might I add helplessly?) on his back, he opened his eyes again only to the man practically on top of him.

Both the situation and the logistics of how it came about was astounding. In the span of a second, the man had followed Allen backward and down onto the ground and managed to carefully crawl over him without his knowledge.

Staring up at the man over him in pure shock, Allen was able to take in the man's features. The first thing he noticed was the "man" was much closer to his age than he originally thought. The stranger couldn't have been older than 18.

He had messy and tangled red hair that went to below his shoulders. His clothing was reminiscent of armor, but looked to be much lighter and probably offered little more protection than normal clothing. He wore a brown shirt that ended lower than his waist with sleeves that ended right at his wrists. On the chest area, replacing the brown fabric, was a brown iron chest plate of a similar color.

His pants were black and made of an incredibly durable material, one that had to have been expensive to procure and was something Allen could never afford. It clung to his lower body tightly, but was a little long and some of the material was bunching up around his ankles. He wore an attractive pair of black boots, built for all terrain.

The redhead in question was staring at him as well. His eyes, a bright emerald green color, shone with a sort of humor and glee. Well, only one of his eyes was actually visible, the other being covered by a brown leather eyepatch that could not have been matching his outfit by any sort of coincidence. A large, goofy smile stretched across his face. Allen thought that, even with a little dirt, he was kind of attractive.

"I finally found you." The words that left the strange man's lips brought Allen back to attention.

"Huh?" Allen said in question.

"What's your name?" The redhead plowed on, acting as if he hadn't noticed Allen's discomfort.

"A-Allen?" Unsure of what to do in this strange situation, Allen merely complied with the strange young man's request for information and stated his name.

"Allen...?" The redhead queried.

"Allen Walker." Allen gulped.

"Mm." He hummed thoughtfully. "I'm Deak.' He introduced, gracing Allen with a brilliant smile.

"Uhum..." Allen tried to think of what to say.

"Deak." Deak supplied, taking Allen's stumble for words as confirmation that the boy hadn't caught his name.

"Uh, Deak..what did you mean you..found me?" Deak smiled even more.

Deak smiled even more, if that were even possible. "I meant I'm here for you. I'm a demon, by the way."

He said it so nonchalantly, but the words hit Allen hard. _He-he's a demon?! He's the demon that lives in this forest? He wants me? Do demons eat people? I've heard of them having human slaves, but I'm not so sure; there aren't many demons._

Not noticing Allen's panic and fear, Deak added. "After all, weren't you the one that released me from the bottle?"

 _The...bottle?_ Suddenly, everything clicked for Allen. _He was in that bottle? And I released him? What have I done?_ Allen felt like he was going to faint, but no, he had to get away. He had to get out of the forest. As he had been mulling over his options, Deak's face had been drifting closer to his own.

He gathered up all of his resolve and, just as Deak leaned towards his face, Allen gave him a right hook. He was up and running before the demon even knew what was happening. Tearing through the forest at high speed for fear of the demon that would surely begin chasing after him, Allen forgot how easily he could get lost.

After a while of running, Allen slowed down, realizing that he had no idea if he was any closer to getting out of the god forsaken woods. The realization was crushing. He was trapped in a forest with a demon that wanted to take him and no idea how to get away.

"Why are you leaving?" A voice came from directly behind Allen. Jumping away and turning around, Allen saw the demon, Deak, looking at him with an innocent and curious gaze. If he wasn't a demon, Allen couldn't help thinking that he might be cute. As it was, Allen was terrified. Deak had caught up so easily without even being winded as Allen was.

Deak had found him far too easily and quietly and Allen was horrified at the thought that he might not be able to get away. Allen started darting his head from side to side trying to decide which way to go.

Deak, who was watching this curiously, seemed to understand the gesture. "Are you lost?" He asked.

Allen froze upon hearing this. Terror filled his body as he thought that the demon before him would take advantage of the situation. Deak slowly raised one of his hands and pointed off into one of the side directions just as Allen was going to try his luck running again.

"If memory serves, the exit is that way. Just keep heading left." Deak supplied, helpfully.

Allen stared at him for a moment, wondering if the demon was trying to lure him into a trap or not. But, at length, Allen realized that he had no other option (none that was preferable, at least) and took of running in that direction.

"Hey, wait! Stop! Where are you going!" Allen heard Deak's voice calling out to him, but he didn't stop. He didn't stop running until he got out of the forest and to his newly acquired cabin home, when he realized that winter was coming, he was starving and he had no food.


	2. Understand Me

It had been 12 hours since Allen had escaped the woods and Deak, the "murderous" demon that had been after him. While Allen's initial paranoia that said demon would find him again had subsided and he had started to grow steadily calmer, there had not been a moment in time since when Allen was not thinking about what had happened.

In hindsight, Allen realized that the demon hadn't said or done anything particularly violent during their encounter, but he had been too frightened by his presence to notice at the time. Even if he had realized it then, he wouldn't've had time to think about it. Regardless, Allen was far from feeling either comfortable or trusting of Deak. After all, the demon had said that he was after him. He wouldn't just forget about that.

Shaking his head, Allen forced himself to focus on the issue at hand. He was hoping that the demon was not able to leave the forest and enter the town; a theory that was growing stronger the longer time went on without the redheaded demon showing up. With that problem on the backburner, another one took center stage as Allen was faced with starvation.

If he didn't find a way to get some food or money, he wouldn't live long enough to worry about the demon, much less survive the winter. Allen had tried going out and begging for it, but it was cold out and few people were out. Still, there were no shops that would hire him and there was no way he was going back to that cursed forest, not that there was anything there for him anyway.

The realization that he had no options pushed down on Allen's being and constricted his chest. It was a feeling that he'd had especially often in his short life most akin to a rat caught between a cat and a trap. Moving to go out again with the intention to beg for money, Allen heard a knock on the door.

 _Who...?_ Who would come see him? Allen thought. What purpose was there in that? He was no one.

Allen went and cautiously opened the door, only to stare in fear at the person in front of it before slamming it back closed in an instance.

"Hey!" Deak yelled, indignantly, from the other side of the door. "Why'd you slam the door?!"

Allen didn't venture an answer. He just leaned on the door in hopes that the redhead would go away. When it became clear that the demon had no intention of leaving and continued to call to him from the outside, Allen yelled out his thoughts. "Go away!" He yelled, hoping the well-meaning (so it would seem) demon would just leave him alone.

"Why?" The confused voice said. Then it seemed to backtrack. "Would you let me in if I said I just wanted to talk?"

Allen paused for a moment, wondering in silence if he could let the demon in like that. Unintentionally, Allen let the silence drag on and on. It probably would have gone on longer, but the demon's voice once again disrupted the peace.

"I just want to talk." The words were spoken so softly and with such a sad note to them, Allen found himself getting off the door and unlocking it before he could understand what he was doing.

Before he knew it, a red blur sped into the house faster than any human could and wrapped him up in a big hug. "I knew you'd be understanding, Love!" Cried Deak, squeezing Allen into a tight and yet somehow soft hug.

Allen tried to wiggle out of it, but he couldn't get out of his grip, the demon was naturally too strong. "D-Deak.." Allen silently begged the demon to let go.

Taking the hint, Deak let him go and Allen sunk to the floor. "Heh. Sorry." Deak apologized and laughed good-naturedly, closing his eyes and rubbing the back of his head. Opening his eyes again, Deak refocused his gaze on Allen. "Now that that's settled, I want to ask you something. Why did you run away?"

Allen looked up at the demon and felt the words tumbling out of his mouth. "I don't know. You're a demon, I was scared of you. A-And you said you were after me."

Deak's eyes grew wide for a moment, but then the almost serene look on his face broke apart as he nearly collapsed in a fit of laughter. Confusion and a small amount of quiet indignation rose in him as Allen watched the demon laugh.

"I can understand that." Deak forced out through the laughter. "Demons are pretty scary especially when they want to be, but you misunderstand me." Deak laughed a little more at that comment.

"Misunderstood? How?" Allen asked surprised, tilting his head to the side in question.

"Well, I'm not after you in the way that you thought I was, though I am after you." Deak wiped his eyes as his laughter finally died down.

Confusedly walking up to Deak and looking up at him, Allen inquired enthusiastically. "Then what did you mean?"

At the prompt, Deak bent down on one knee and pulled a ring from his boot. "I want to marry you." Deak said, seriously, holding a beautifully decorated ring up to the boy.

Confusion was prominent on Allen's face before horror slowly took over. "No! No, absolutely not."

"Why?" Deak asked, not rising and looking up at Allen as if he was the strangest person in the world.

"I won't marry a demon, much less anyone I just met!"

"You need to know me?" Deak asked, finally rising, and standing unbearably close to Allen.

"Kind of. I don't know anything about you. How can I marry you?" Allen asked, upset.

"Then I'll tell you about me. However, think about it, I can do a lot for you." Deak reasoned.

"What do you mean?" Allen asked, carefully.

"I wonder...do you know much about marriage?" Deak asked him.

"Not...really..." Allen answered, hesitantly, having never thought about it before. Allen had just sort of taken it for granted that he wouldn't ever get married and that his future, as a whole, would always be unsure.

It was true, he never had parents or even friends to teach him about the social norms that came with living in their place and time. With his looks and his poverty and his outcast status, he wouldn't have been able to marry anyone even if he had thought about it. Though he didn't know much about relationships and marriage, he did know that people didn't like to marry below their means.

"Then allow me to shed some light on the process." Deak said, gesturing Allen to take a seat on the ratty bed that stood in the corner of the cabin. Allen went to take a seat and Deak continued his explanation while following him to take a seat as well.

"Marriages are like contracts made for convenience." Receiving a blank look from Allen, Deak continued. "For example: a man who has a prosperous business may want to marry someone who also has a thriving business because that means he also gets that business. For people, building up their money and power is the most important thing? Understand so far?"

Allen nodded. "But I don't have any money." Allen stated.

"I can tell by the way you live." Deak said, taking a quick look around the cabin.

"So then where are you going with this?" Allen demanded, huffily.

"You don't have it now, but I can give it to you." Allen looked up, startled. Then Deak said, proudly holding his chin up. "I happen to have quite a bit of money." Upon seeing Allen open his mouth with a disbelieving look on his face, Deak hurried to hold up his hand and say, "Not a word. Let me finish."

Allen closed his mouth, grumpily and Lavi continued. "You have a shabby home away from the village and I can tell you have not a farthing to your name, too. If you take advantage of the fact that I wish to marry you, then you'll be entitled to everything that I have." Allen opened his mouth so Deak hastened to add, "Which is a lot".

"Why do you want to marry me?" Allen asked, suspiciously.

Even though he had started the conversation, Deak looked highly uncomfortable when Allen asked this. "I'll tell you about that in a little while. So, what's your answer?" His charming smile was back.

"I don't...know." It was all too much for Allen.

Deak sighed heavily, looking irritated. "Fine, but I'm staying until I get my answer." Noticing the frightened look on Allen's face, Deak hurried to continue. "I won't take no for an answer, this is not a choice, but I promise I'll behave."

At this, Allen said nothing.

"Where are your pillows?"

"I-I don't have any." Allen stuttered. Even though he had been used to it his whole life, how little he had still filled him with shame. Even though he couldn't control how much money he had, people (the few who stopped to talk to him) always talked as though it were his fault. Sort of like, why couldn't he do better if everyone else does. But he didn't know the answer to that.

He'd thought that maybe Deak would be the same, making him feel singled out and worthless for it, but instead, Deak merely left out the door without another word or glance in his direction. Allen watched as the door slowly swung closed, wondering if his poverty had been a deal breaker for him. Allen honestly wasn't sure, but it didn't seem like Deak was planning on coming back. He was somewhat relieved at the thought that the demon may not be following him again, but he couldn't help the hint of hurt that entered his being at the same time.

Allen sighed, shaking his head. _I have to stop letting these things get to me. Things won't change._ Allen decided to lay on his bed and attempt to relax. He didn't want to go outside so soon after his run in with Deak, less he might run into the guy. Allen began to reread the only book he had, one he'd been given by Cross. He'd read it oh so many times already, but he did like it and he had nothing else to read.

Not too much later, the door to Allen's cabin opened again and, surprise surprise, in stepped Deak. Glancing up in surprise, Allen quickly noticed that Deak was carrying several bed accessories.

Deak kicked the door closed since his hands were full of items and went to stand by Allen's bed. "Mind getting up for a moment?" Deak asked the boy stretched out on the mattress.

Nodding, Allen went to get up. After the bed was clear, Deak proceeded to a blanket and pillows stuffed in pillow cases onto the bed. The blanket and pillow cases were a beautiful matching royal red and gold color. It looked amazing to Allen's eyes . . . and expensive.

Allen remembered Lavi said something unbelievable about him actually having lots of money, but Allen still couldn't think about where he had gotten it. Besides, they lived in a small town ( i.e. rathole). He would've been lucky to find this stuff at the most expensive and exclusive shops in town.

Allen refocused when the rustling made by Deak setting the bed stopped. Turning to Allen, Deak heaved an exhausted sigh and beamed a proud smile. Allen easily found himself loving that smile.

"Now that that's set up and we both seem to be tired, want to go to sleep?" Deak asked, innocently. Allen felt that he didn't mean anything by it, but he still felt weird hearing someone ask him to bed. He wasn't that close to anyone, much less this guy.

"And would we be sleeping together?" Allen asked, uneasily.

"Well, this is the only bed here, right?" Deak inquired. Allen nodded and he continued. "Exactly and I don't feel like sleeping on the floor so we need to share it."

"But I don't even really know you." Allen tried to get his point across and then, as an afterthought, cried. "And this is my house! If I don't want to share my bed, you have to sleep on the floor!"

"I do, do I?" Deak asked, his voice gaining a more menacing quality as his eyes flashed violet. Recoiling slightly, Allen found he couldn't force out any words. Seeing this, Deak sighed, remorse immediately evident on his facial features as he seemed to mentally backtrack. "Sorry." Deak murmured, apologetically. "I didn't mean it. You don't need to be afraid of me."

After a pause, Deak then turned to the bed and laid down on it on his back, opening his arms and looking at Allen. Allen just stared at him, blankly. "This is the best way to sleep with someone," Deak explained, "and not just because there isn't very much room in this tiny bed. I said I wanted to marry you so you need to get used to being close with me. You know that if we get married, we'll be much closer than this."

Unable to argue with the logic Deak was dealing out, Allen only nodded and slipped into the bed with him. Deak took Allen into his arms and set his chin on the shorter boy's head. He fell asleep long before Allen, the white haired boy kept awake by his incessant thinking of the day's and past day's events. Eventually, though, Deak's rhythmic and peaceful breathing began to lull Allen into unconsciousness.

 _Someone actually wants to marry me._ This was his last thought before sleep.


	3. Into Town

Allen cracked his eyes open, his retinas immediately assaulted by the bright sunlight shining uninhibited into his home. He yawned and shuffled a bit in lieu of stretching, feeling his numb muscles coming to life. Emitting a heavy sigh, weariness filling his being at the knowledge that, now that he was awake, he was obligated to get out of bed. Leaning towards the edge of the bed so as to lazily ease himself out of the bedor perhaps allow himself to fall out (as he often did), Allen's attention was brought to an obstruction.

Something pressed against Allen's stomach every time he tried to move, allowing him a range of movement of about an inch and keeping him firmly in place. After glancing down towards the obstruction, Allen was able to confirm that it was an arm wrapped around his waist which led Allen to realize that his back was strangely warm. Shifting backward slightly, he realized that there was a body pressed against his back.

Not immediately remembering the events of the previous day, Allen began to react and struggle to get out of the unknown person's grip. In response, the man hugged him tighter, refusing both to let go or wake up. The body behind him started mumbling in his sleep. Somehow the voice sounded familiar. As his last resort, Allen moved his right arm back and forth until the arms wrapped around him loosened just enough for his purposes. After testing his still limited range of movement, Allen then eased his arm out of the grip and shoved his elbow back into the person's face.

He'd been expecting the guy to recoil back, immediately awake and hopefully let go. That wasn't what happened. The somewhat substantial blow did wake him up, he just didn't have much of a reaction; he merely twitched. It was clear he felt it, was annoyed by that and began to wake up as a result.

After the body shifted around on the bed a little, Allen felt himself be turned around to face the person behind him. He knew, just as he saw the red hair, who it was in the bed with him. As Deak smiled sleepily at him, eyes bleary, Allen remembered the past day's events. He recalled how Deak had insisted on marrying him and staying in the cabin together until Allen relented.

Two days ago, Allen would have been horrified at the possibility of this happening to him. He wouldn't have considered staying with a demon and would likely have settled for running away even though it was his house. Now, not only was he taking this reality surprisingly well, but his brain was processing strange information. Things like: it was nice to wake up next to someone and that Deak really did have a nice smile.

Allen was surprised by his thoughts, but even more surprised by how true he found them to be. Even as a little kid, he always woke up cold, alone and lonely. That morning, though, he'd woken up next to a warm body and feeling emotionally connected to the person. Deak's feelings (whatever those were) towards him had been palpable especially as he smiled at Allen, silently bidding him a good morning.

 _I wonder . . . is this what my mornings would be like if I married Deak?_ Allen wondered. Shocked, again, by his train of thought, Allen quickly dismissed it and brutally denied ever having thought it.

"Good morning." Deak slurred, lazily rubbing his eyes. Deak looked so undeniably happy that Allen couldn't help but share that happiness. "Shall we eat breakfast?" Deak asked, hopefully.

Allen's eyes widened in surprise, the actual statement not so much surprising as the fact that Allen didn't think Deak ate normal food. The small amount of information he'd heard about demons included that they fed off of humans. What, exactly, they ate differed greatly per informant. Some said they drank human blood straight from their bodies, few insisted it was more spiritual in that they actually feasted on human souls, but most said they straight up ate human flesh.

Somehow he didn't think that was what Deak wanted to eat. He'd never met anyone as nice as Deak seemed to be. In his life, the humans he'd met hadn't ever treated him right and Deak was a demon. Deak was a big, bad, scary human carving demon or, at least, he was supposed to be. But he wasn't, from what Allen had seen thus far.

"Allen . . . ?" Deak's inquisitive gaze settled on Allen, looking at him expectantly.

"Well, what do you want to eat?" Allen hastened out, hoping to act less awkward. He hoped answering Deak's question with another question wouldn't be upsetting to him.

"Whatever you want." Deak gave the most (dare he say) innocent smile Allen had ever seen.

"Well, um, I don't really have any food . . ." Allen mumbled, in a dejected manner.

"Then we'll go out to eat." Deak replied, immediately.

"Eat . . . out . . . ?" Allen asked, completely confused.

Looking at Allen like he was strange for the first time, Deak elaborated. "Pubs and other shops often serve food for the well off or travelers. They do still do that right?"

After a quick thought, Allen's features lit up in realization. _Now that I think about it, I've heard of people doing that._ Allen thought. Premade food and full meals being a luxury that he couldn't even fathom, he'd only been vaguely aware in his life of some of the things people with money to waste would do with their earnings.

Immediately, Allen did what he would usually do; he panicked. "I don't have the money for that!" Allen shook his head quickly.

Chuckling at Allen's reaction, Deak slung his arm around Allen's shoulders and directed him towards the door. "Don't worry your pretty little head about that. I'll pay for it."

The offer was tempting, but Allen was still too afraid. "I can't let you pay!" Allen cried, struggling to get away from Deak's grip. However, Deak seemed to assume some of his inhuman strength because Allen couldn't get out of his arms and Deak didn't seem willing to let go.

Allen accidentally let slip his real fear. "B-Besides! The people in this town know me and they hate me!" Facing the people that had victimized him his whole life. The people of the village acted as one unit to break down Allen's sense of self worth and stop the growth of any kind of confidence.

The thought of actively making himself a nuisance brought to mind all the things that could go wrong, depending on the shopkeeper and how mad they were that filth like him even entered their establishment.

Deak watched as Allen's expression turned to one of fear. Deak didn't understand why the townspeople's opinions of him bothered Allen so much. He didn't know what happened in Allen's life to make him so wary, but maybe it wasn't something that he was supposed to just automatically understand.

Deak managed to force Allen out the door and towards the center of town. Somewhere along the walk, Allen stopped fighting Deak and began to ease up, prompting Deak to ease up as well. After proceeding for a little while like that, Deak dropped his arms from around Allen completely. He immediately took Allen's hand into one of his own.

Now, something you need to know is that Deak was standing on Allen's left side. Therefore, the hand he held was Allen's left hand; the scarred, deformed, monstrous appendage that had always singlehandedly ( ⇐ no pun intended ) caused so much hate to be directed at him. Allen didn't understand why Deak was touching it. He may have been wearing gloves, but his arm could still clearly be seen. So why hadn't he said anything about it?

Allen never really saw the town coming up in front of them, too distressed trying to understand the person next to him. However, to Allen's dismay, they did get to the town center. Without missing a beat after their arrival, Deak started pulling Allen along with their joined hands, looking for a proper place to stop and eat.

The few people that were out and about in the rapidly dropping temperature looked at Allen as he walked past. Most of them knew him as he had spent most of his youth begging or running from them on the streets and those were the ones that glared at him, his very appearance offensive to them. The ones that either didn't live in the town then or didn't remember him; his existence so meager to them that they never even bothered to remember him.

Allen wanted to shrink away from their harsh gazes which stuck into him like needles. The needles were sharp and easily punctured his heart. A squeeze to Allen's left hand made Allen's attention turn to the man at his side. Deak was staring forward, not sparing a glance at Allen or the people they passed as they walked.

 _I wonder . . . did he know I was upset?_ Allen thought, gazing at the man, futilely trying to read his thoughts.

"This seems like a good place." Deak mumbled.

Wondering what he was talking about, Allen turned his attention to where Deak was looking. Apparently finding the pub they were situated next to suitable to eat at, Deak began ushering Allen inside.

 _At least the owner of this place is more soft spoken._ Allen mentally monotoned as he allowed himself to be herded inside the metaphorical hellhole. _But this still won't end well._

A small bell rang as Deak eased the door open. A few heads lazily turned in their direction before going back to their previous business. Only a few stayed to glare at Allen before regarding Deak with a mix of curiosity and disapproval. _Most likely because he's with me,_ Allen thought.

Casually walking up to the counter, Deak listened as the owner rattled off all the items their little shop served. When the lady was done with her list, Deak turned towards Allen's direction. "Hey, Allen!" Deak called rather loudly from his position at the counter. "What do you want to eat?" This time, all in the shop turned their attention to the two and kept it that way, taking way too much interest in the situation.

Uncomfortable with the negative attention, Allen turned his head to the floor in shame and hurried over to Deak's side. Deak noticed this and understood why, but said nothing. Instead, he proceeded to repeat the complete list of items the lady owner had given him verbatim. Allen idly wondered how he could remember them all after hearing them only once.

Why Deak was treating him so nice was still perplexed Allen and kept him from fully focusing on their conversations. "So what do you want?" Deak asked after he'd finished. \

 _Oh, no._ Allen thought. _I got distracted again._ "Whatever you want to buy." The boy managed to answer.

"No. No." Deak droned in a mock chastising tone. "I asked you and money is no object."

The bar owner perked up at those words. Her previous apprehensive look at possibly having to serve Allen and his companion now replaced with a greedy smile. Her eyes even sparkled, Allen noted in a disgusted manner.

"Just tell the truth." Allen heard Deak's voice say.

Looking back to Deak, Allen was prepared to again tell him that he would take anything, but was stopped cold by the look Deak gave him. Both eyes wide open and staring into his own, a large closed smile that mentally brought Allen to his knees every time. Overall, his features projected an emotional openness that made it impossible for Allen to knowingly utter a lie while looking at it.

"I warn you . . . I eat a lot." Allen mumbled, halfheartedly, eyes lowering again. After getting no responce from Deak, who continued to stare at him in earnest awaiting an answer, Allen sighed. "One of everything." He said it so quietly that only the owner and Deak could hear.

The shopkeeper gasped, loudly, drawing more attention from people wondering what he's said. Deak, on the other hand, showed no signs of the surprise the pub owner showed nor the disgust that Allen had somewhat expected from him. Instead, he merely smiled brightly at Allen and turned to the shopkeeper who was so much thrown that she barely had the presence of mind to take Deak's order.

"Well, as my fiancé said, he'll have one of everything." This blunt statement brought shocked gasps and choked cries from many in the room, Allen included. Uncaring of this, Deak went on. "And I'll have a bowl of the Split Pea Soup."

Then, taking Allen's hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, Deak led him over to a table and they both sat down and waited for their food to be prepared. A silence descended on them, awkward in Allen's opinion, because they really weren't sure what to talk about. True, they really didn't know much about each other.

The picture of Deak that Allen's mind had painted was one of a surprisingly kindhearted demon. One who had shown actual interest in the thoughts and feelings of the person he was courting, namely: Allen. He had been shown more compassion in the last hours from this guy than he had been shown by an entire town of his fellow human beings in his entire life.

This reality was both comforting and disconcerting. The whole town hating him had seemed so normal until then. He'd felt like they would have been nicer and more accepting of him if he weren't so wrong; like he somehow deserved it. But now having met Deak, Allen was starting to reconsider what he thought was normal.

 _Maybe it would have been better if I just didn't go into the forest._ Allen wondered, but he still somehow felt that, as bleak as things currently were for him, they would get better. If he just stayed with Deak . . . maybe they would.

Deak watched the boy who was deep in contemplation, chewing on some thoughts of his own. _So he's definitely the one?_ Deak watched carefully as Allen began to whine under his breath and scratch at his stark white hair. _This is the one that I have to marry?_

* * *

 **Just thought I should mention, this story is meant to take place in 15th century Europe.**


	4. The Company We Keep

Deak sat at their table and calmly watched as Allen scarfed down all the food they had ordered, minus the bowl of Split Pea Soup that was Deak's. Though he didn't seem shocked or disgusted like the others in the pub (who had taken to staring at Allen's behavior in dismay), but instead showed a strong curiosity in his eating habits. The feat being performed before him astounded Deak and he had to wonder how someone as small as his fiancé could pack away so much food.

Granted, when Deak immediately ordered one of everything they had, they didn't have much, but there was a certain amount of food that people expect a human being to not be able to consume. Allen was finishing up the last of the dishes, baked apples. The rest of what he'd eaten was sausage, mincemeat pie, biscuits, split pea soup, beef and vegetable soup, oat bread and lamb (a rarity in those parts and the most expensive thing on the menu, though all the meat dishes cost more).

Deak had only just finished his own bowl of soup as he had forgotten it several times throughout the course of the meal in favor of watching Allen. Allen, for his part, was starting to get a little unnerved. He'd never liked being stared at and that was all Deak had been doing since they started eating; staring at him. It was creepy enough without factoring in his surprising lack of emotion concerning Allen. His home, his poverty, his arm, his relationship with the locals and now his eating habits were not enough to shock or disgust him. Although, he could be hiding his emotions very well, but the problem still remained.

Allen peered up at Deak through his bangs as he continued to eat the baked apples. Finding that Deak was still staring at him, Allen tried to make conversation to distract him from his discomfort. "These apples are delicious." He stated, picking up another on his fork and readying to take another bite.

Deak said nothing and simply leaned forward over the table and closer to Allen. Allen watched as the red haired demon wrapped his hand around Allen's own hand, the one holding the fork full of baked apples, and forced it over to his side of the table. Deak opened his mouth wide and ate the apples off the fork Allen held.

It was a good thing that Deak hadn't expected much because that is exactly what greeted him. The apples were underbaked making the overall dish very tough. There was a feeling of there being absolutely no sugar in the dish. Whether it was because the pub couldn't get their hands on/couldn't afford sugar or because they falsely thought that the apples were sweet enough for the dish on their own, he did not know. What he did know was that they were way too fond of salt.

Allen noticed none of this, his standards being tremendously lower than Deak's, having lived in this small town exclusively and being permitted very little food. Allen also didn't notice the look of disgust that Deak wore upon tasting the food that the white haired boy had praised as "delicious". What he did notice was that Deak had eaten off the same fork as him. Allen couldn't stop a blush from surfacing and it only got worse with the realization that he'd indirectly fed the man. No, the demon! He felt so violated . . . and yet strangely pleased.

ZAllen quickly began hitting his forehead with his palm, trying to jar the latter thought from his mind. Before he could so much as give himself a headache much less do any damage, two hands shot forward and grabbed his wrists, keeping them in place. Allen looked up in surprise only to meet a face sporting an eyepatch and an emerald green eye closer than they were before. The eyes that stared into his were intense and even angry.

To say Deak was caught off guard would be an understatement. He'd grown unused to people and the world so this behavior caught him off guard. Still, he couldn't remember a time when he had seen someone exhibiting aggressive actions towards himself. Maybe it was because he'd rarely gotten to know anyone in depth before. There was only one person that he had known that well and that had known him that way in turn and they had forsaken him.

Deak felt his breathing contrict at the thought, old pain and hurt making it hard for him to breathe and causing physical pain. "Don't." Deak ground out harshly, his seriousness surprising the other boy. "Don't hurt yourself."

His tone wasn't the only thing that surprised Allen. If Allen hadn't been so used to aggressive, hate filled people, then he might have been more frightened by the demon's reaction. As it was, he was more concerned with what Deak's reaction meant. He seemed to be showing more of that concern for Allen that he was so prone to. Even his harsh gaze held some amount of worry.

Allen was having a hard time trying to figure out how to respond as he found himself sucked into the feeling again. That feeling of having someone who actually cared about him or, at least, someone who did a good job of pretending that he did. It was only then he realized that, out of context though it may be, he and Deak had basically been staring into each other's eyes.

Unsure of what he should do to break the tension and unsure if he should pull away or not, Allen stayed where he was, glancing at Deak and then glancing around nervously. Everyone in the bar was watching the scene unfold, but don't mind them. "Would it be remiss of me to kiss you?" His voice level only slightly lower than normal, continuing to stare into Allen's eyes.

Startled by the unimaginable question and by how Deak managed to maintain his air of innocence (or perhaps just ignorance), the boy moved back and out of range of the demon's touch. "Of course!" Allen cried indignantly in a hushed tone. "It would be improper for two who are not married!"

"I'm trying to marry you." Deak *gasp* pouted.

Ignoring this completely unuseful statement from his companion, Allen insisted they leave and immediately got up to do so. He'd had enough of this farce. Deak yielded and went up to the lady owner to pay. Though he was mentally having a fit, Allen did want an answer to his longstanding question of how Deak was actually going to pay for it all (if he actually would) and peeked over in the demon's direction.

The woman recited the cost of their combined breakfast. It was all Allen could do not to have a heart attack at the price (quite a bit for normal people and even more so for him), but Deak didn't bat an eye. His right hand slid fluidly into his pocket and quickly came out clutching something. Deak then opened the contents of his palm onto the counter, revealing an assemblage of multicolored jewels.

While they were very small, the largest of them able to be completely concealed while being held in someone's hand, they were flawless. Sparkling brilliantly even in the dim lighting of the pub, the brightly colored gems were aesthetically pleasing and without flaw in every way possible.

"You may keep the overage." Deak stated in a flippant manner.

The pub owner's eyes bugged out of her head at his words. The reactions of everyone else in the shop weren't far off, including Allen's. Deak was basically saying that a meal that cost a handful of ducats would be happily paid for with a handful of expensive looking gems, any one of them enough to more than pay all on it's own.

Ignoring their monetary value, such luxuries as that were nonexistent in those parts which made them something that most would kill for the opportunity to merely see. Either the full weight of what he was doing was eluding the demon (which probably would have meant he was stupid) or he just didn't care (which might have hinted at some insanity).

 _When he said money was no object, I didn't think he was this serious._ Allen thought. His familiar panic was setting in as he again began to seriously wonder just who he was with. Up until then, Allen had just (more of less) accepted that for some reason he'd found himself in the company of a strange demon and, while said demon had made claims that suggested he had plenty of money, Allen had thought they were completely false. Well, he could see now that he had been completely wrong about that.

The scene he'd just witnessed completely blew from Allen's mind the fact that he'd been intent on leaving but a moment ago. Deak, however, hadn't seemed to have forgotten as he immediately took to the door, looking back at Allen questioningly when he didn't follow. Just as he moved towards Deak, the pub owner motioned for him to come over. Allen glanced at her then at Deak nervously before slowly making his way over to the lady owner.

"You." Once he was before her, she leaned towards him conspiratorially (although maintaining a certain distance). "So that rich young man is your fiancé?" She whispered the question to him, but it sounded far more like an undeniable statement. Allen couldn't see any point in denying her inquisition, but he wasn't ready to assent to it yet so he said nothing. Taking his silence as confirmation, she whispered again. "You better hold onto him tight, then, and not let him go. A good one like that will fly off the shelves."

No matter how much you may want to try and take her words as a sign of kindness, her tone and expression belied nothing of the sort. Proving that, his already stern face turned even harsher. "I don't even understand how a good-for-nothing runt like you were able to convince him you were worth courting." She mumbled with a jealous air, turning and leaving Allen standing at the counter. He absently thought how unusually lucky he was that she had said he piece so quietly that it was unlikely anyone else in the room had overheard.

Allen stared dumbly at her retreating back for a long while before, much like a zombie, turning and walking over to Deak, the demon waiting patiently by the door. The redheaded demon had heard every word that the lady had said thanks to his inhuman hearing abilities. Although Allen knew he was a demon, the boy seemed to not have considered that. Instead, he seemed to be comforted in the knowledge that no one else had heard.

Deak abstained from commenting on it and merely waited for Allen to take up beside him. When Allen did, he wrapped his arm tightly around the boy's shoulders and, ignoring the other male's immediate discomfort, began the trek back home. The walk back was even more quiet than the walk out and many times more uncomfortable.

A nearly visible gloom hung over Allen, his expression cold and detached, but filled with pain as he mulled over the woman's words. She had hit him straight through the heart with her observations of Deak being too good for him and how unusual and unexplainable said man's interest in him was. The assessments, while simple, fed Allen's fears and insecurities, turning them cannibalistic and causing them to begin to eat him alive.

Through the haze of uncontrollable feelings, Allen became aware of one notable fact. He knew next to nothing about the person next to him, who happened to be a demon, despite having spent the night and most of the morning together. Hadn't Deak said the day before that he would explain his motives for wanting to marry Allen later? Now that it was indeed later, Allen resolved to ask him about it and see how he would react.

And that's exactly what he did. The pair entered the home quietly and, after each taking a seat on the bed, fell even further into the uncomfortable silence they'd cultivated. Neither of them looked like they were going to be breaking the silence when Allen spoke.

"D-Deak?" Allen asked, haltingly.

"Yeah?" The demon queried, his voice normal and without hesitation.

"Why do you want to marry me so badly?" Allen asked so quietly that his voice was just above a whisper.

The question made Deak tense, his muscles doing the same. "I'll tell you."

"Really?" Allen looked up at Deak in surprise. He honestly hadn't thought the redhead would agree even if he did say he would prior. He'd even expected the (admittedly kind seeming man) to display outrage as that was what he was used to.

"Yes." Deak said, his gaze bore into Allen's, his determination unwavering.


	5. A Demon's Redemption

"I may have been neglecting the fact that you have a right to know." Deak said simply. Allen stayed silent as Deak began to explain.

"There was a deal that was made 100 years ago." Upon seeing the confused look on Allen's face, Deak moved in to elaborate. "Think of it like a contract. It would prove binding to me. Unlike most contracts, I didn't have a say in it, but I would still need to fulfill my obligations as specified in the "contract".

"Oh." Allen said, quietly, his head hanging low. Allen was starting to regret having asked about it. Deak had barely started and Allen already felt sorry for him and guilty of how wary he had been of him (even if he was still a demon).

Not noticing Allen's thoughts, Deak continued on. "I had a master then . . . well, I say master, but he was really more like a grandfather to me. So much so that I called him Gramps a lot of the time." Deak smiled sadly. A kind of melancholy settled in his eyes which gazed off into a distant past.

"But one day I angered him too much, pushed him too far, and he cast me away for it. Though I did not start out as such a disappointment, I changed and grew into one." Deak paused abruptly. Looking up at him, Allen could see that he was struggling with something. Both men were silent as the demon seemed to be working through something.

It was a only few minutes later that Deak was able to continue on, not once shedding a tear on the outside, but shedding plenty emotional ones. "You remember that bottle you released me from, don't you?"

Allen remembered even though he barely knew what had happened that day. Allen nodded.

"Well, I may or may not have mentioned this, but I was trapped in it for a hundred years. That's ten decades of isolation in a glass tomb with no contact with the outside world."

Allen's breath hitched as the full weight of that statement hit him. A hundred years. That was more than five times how long he had been alive. To spend that amount of time all alone, robbed of his freedom was . . .

"And the person that did that to me was Gramps, my master."

Allen felt himself go cold. This person that Deak cared about, thought of as family, could do something like that to him? A twinge of anger, a nearly foreign feeling for Allen, came about him. How could that man do that to Deak?

 _What has he ever done to anybody?_ Allen demanded mentally, as if his own mind somehow held the answer. _How could he hurt someone who was like his grandchild? Didn't he care half as much about Deak as Deak seemed to care about him?_

Seeing Allen's reaction, Deak spoke again. "I don't blame him. In fact, I'm sure he did it to, in some way, help me."

Allen looked at him in surprise. "How?!" He burst out.

Deak smiled cynically. It failed to mask his pain. "I don't know yet. To teach me a lesson?" Deak answered honestly.

"Teach you a lesson?" Allen repeated in question. "About what? And what did you do that made your grandfather mad?"

Deak grew quiet and his head dipped down so that his hair fell forward and hid his eyes. An oppressive silence descended on the room and it's occupants. Allen felt like he was being choked by it and the more he wanted it to end, the more ti choked him. His busy mind almost didn't hear Deak finally whisper something.

"I'm not ready yet. To talk about it, I mean." Deak said, his head still down. "I just used the time I was trapped in that bottle to realize that I haven't been the best person."

Allen had to think about what he said at first. When he could finally wrap his head around what Deak had said and it's implications, the first thing he wanted to do was argue and tell Deak that he could say it without worry; he wanted to know. But, above that, he wanted Deak to know that he wouldn't judge just like he didn't judge Allen. However, Allen had enough sense to bite back on it and let it go. Hopefully Deak would soon be ready to tell him so that Allen wouldn't have to pry.

"But . . . the deal?" Allen asked, realizing that he still knew nothing about it.

Deak's head shot up, his eyes wide and mood immediately dispelled. "Oh, yeah. I haven't told you anything about the "contract", have I? Sorry about that." Maybe it was just that he got a distraction from whatever was distressing him earlier, but this time Deak's smile held more happiness than before.

"Alright." Deak breathed out the word. "So, my master put me away for a while. I think I should take this time to mention that he was a human. He was pretty old too and might not have lived for another decade as it was. Now that it's been a hundred years, he'd definitely gone."

Allen couldn't help but notice that he shied away from using the word "dead". He could sympathize with that and didn't correct the statement.

"Before he left me for the last time, he told me that I had to marry whomever released me from the bottle in a hundred years time." Deak looked at Allen, right in his eyes, and continued. "It's been a hundred years and the one that set me free is you. Therefore I must marry you."

Allen was shocked by this information. He knew there had to be a reason, but he never thought it could be anything as profound as this. _So, it wasn't me he wanted to marry. It just happened to be me and he would have married anyone else in my shoes._

"You're right." Deak said in a soft but stern voice.

"What part of that did I say out loud?" Allen refocused back on Deak in embarrassment.

"Just the part about me being ready to marry anyone who let me out of the bottle. That it didn't have to be you." Deak answered in his usual matter-of-fact manner. Per his usual, it held a certain amount of innocence and no malice regardless of the what he was saying.

Allen's head dipped as a depression set over him. He wasn't completely sure why he was so hurt hearing that he wasn't chosen by Deak, but he thought that he might have been developing feelings for the demon. It was just like a seed planted in the ground. It was just starting out, barely there, but it had the potential to grow into something more. Everything Deak said and did for him in his usual kind manner watered it and brought out the sun.

Being around Deak made him feel special. It wasn't just because it was one of only a handful of times that someone has recognized his existence in such a positive way. He asked Allen what he thought about things and listened when he told him. Allen was naturally more quiet and reserved and had been brought to a more depressive and paranoid state by life.

He had never seen anyone as cheerful and happy as Deak. Even with his emotional handicaps (his past and being a demon which, again, were known for cruelty) he was like walking happiness. Yet, with his personality and the no doubt many people that would love to be around someone possessing as positive qualities as he had, Deak chose to spend his time with Allen.

He didn't judge Allen no matter what happened. Allen had started to stop worrying about doing or saying something that would make the red headed demon snap. Up until that point, this sense of comfort was something he could only hope to find when he was alone. Somehow he was able to find it with just this one person. Why was it that the only place Allen felt wanted and at home growing up in a community of humans was by the side of a demon. A demon whose past he didn't completely know and he was starting to just not care about that.

 _He's such a good man._ Allen allowed himself to realize. _But the only reason he wants to marry me over anyone else is because of chance._

Allen felt a pair of hands come down on his shoulders. Moving his head back up, Allen's nose just touched Deak's. "But," Deak said, seemingly continuing his statement. "I couldn't have imagined nor asked for a better person to have to spend my life with."

The combination of Deak saying this with his soft, warm voice and his determined gaze staring unwaveringly straight into his own eyes brought a blush to Allen's cheeks. Despite his worries and sadness, Deak was able to bring his heart straight up into the sky and he did it so easily.

"I've grown attached to you since we first met, Allen Walker." Deak continued. He radiated honesty as he plowed on with his speech. "I think I've even become enthusiastic about getting married to you. It won't be as much of a chore with you as I thought it would be."

Allen tried to keep himself from accepting the praise. He wanted to soak it up and let it in, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. "Why do you even have to marry at all? Why did your master want that to happen? Even if he did, why would you force yourself to do something you don't want to do especially if the person who gave you the order left you in a glass prison?" Allen found he was ending up with more questions with every answer he was given. Only after he finished asking all of his questions did Allen realize how annoying he must have sounded.

But Deak's pleasant, if a little sad, facial expression never so much as twitched. "Like any contract, I am bound to fulfill it or there's a punishment. Usually, Demons don't die unless they are killed. However, if I don't marry the one who saved me, namely you, then I'll die."

Allen gasped and placed his hand over his mouth. Seemingly having expected this, Deak allowed him a moment to come to terms with that horrible result before continuing on, unaffected.

"There are also conditions. For example: If I am removed from your presence for more than three days at a time, I will meet with the same fate as if I fail to marry you." Deak said, solemnly.

 _How is that possible?_ Allen wondered in shock.

Doing his usual mind reading thing, Deak answered Allen's unasked question. "Once freed, I am bound by . . . enchantment, if you will. Us demons have no terms for many things that you humans feel such a need to label such as the forces that often govern this world. Other terms humans have used for it are charms, curses, sorcery, witchcraft and, the most common of all, magic."

Allen thought about this. It was true that, while a subject that was not necessarily agreed upon in a common way, sorcery was something that was a common occurrence in their society. Perhaps not as common as it was hundreds of years ago, more people were superstitious back then and practitioners of the magical arts were put on more of a pedestal. Things were expected of them like healing the sick and calling upon natural forces.

Because they were viewed so well, it was likely that most of them were fakes simply seeking fame, fortune, attention or all of the above. However, these days magical practitioners were more on the fringes of society than in the center of it and the topic of magic was slowly moving closer and closer to becoming a taboo.

"If," Deak let out a heavy breath here, then a sharp intake. "If I fail to marry you, I will die shortly after you do, whenever that is. If you were to perish in an accident tomorrow, I would keel over as well, no matter where in the world I am."

Allen considered this. "But then what difference would it make if we married? You would still die when I did even if I died of old age, correct?"

"Correct." Deak nodded. "Accept that you wouldn't die of old age were we to be married." Deak's eyes traveled to Allen's and locked on them. "Marriage for demons and for humans, like most things, are similar but different. Both humans and demons get married as part of a ceremony though they are commemorated differently. Both species feel the need to give the idea of two people being joined in matrimony validation."

"Give it validation?" Allen had a slight whine in his voice. He didn't like the fact that he simply wasn't following Deak's explanation.

"For example: Two people can say they're married. However, they could be lying. Generally, having a spouse is not something that leaves a mark that you can see. Unless you ask people such as the couple in question or the priest they said they went to, you can not ascertain whether two people are married or not. Even if you do ask, they could be lying and you would have no way to either prove or disprove it."

"You're saying there's no way to tell if people are spouses because it's not a tangible thing you can see or touch?" Allen's eyes lit up with recognition and interest.

"Exactly. It is merely a concept. But both of our kinds feel it should be recognized by a higher power. Humans partake in holy matrimony. They make vows before god so that He will acknowledge their bond. Demons have their own kind of ceremony for the exact same reasons. Only the ritual differentiates."

"What is the demon ceremony for marriage like?" Allen was genuinely curious. He leaned forward towards Deak, his eyes shining in interest.

Deak looked surprised at Allen for a moment, taken aback by his enthusiasm, with wide eyes. Then his mouth spread into a wide smile and let out a laughter shook his body and brightened his face. Allen was confused with Deak's actions, but couldn't help being pleased that he was able to bring a smile to Deak's face and clear his mood.

Once he stopped laughing, Deak looked back at Allen. Deak wore a fond look as he reached forward and tousled Allen's hair. "Perhaps," He said, his voice matching his expression. "That is something you should see for yourself." Deak seemed to realize something then. "Speaking of which, there is something I must ask you. I've told you my story. I've told you my reasons. What have you to say now?"

There was a silence. Allen closed his eyes, his breathing calm as he thought. Then Allen opened his eyes, leveled them with Deak's and proclaimed his decision.

"I will marry you."


	6. Preparations

"Do . . . do you really mean that?" Deak asked, looking at Allen with widened eyes.

"Yes." Allen said, casting his eyes down and nodding his head.

"Really? Truly?" Deak gauged Allen's reaction. "It doesn't seem like you are."

"I understand now the position you are in. I couldn't let something happen to you because of my selfishness. Especially not after how kind you have been to me. Besides, I'm not stupid." Allen said self deprecatingly. " I know I'm not going to get a better offer or any other offer. I know I don't deserve you."

Allen felt himself tremble slightly as the weight of the town's criticisms weighed down upon him. A pair of hands grabbed Allen's shoulders, making him look back up at Deak. The ferocity he found in the red headed demon's eyes was a surprise to the boy. Thinking on it, Allen had perhaps seen this kind of look on Deak before, but it was an unusual and unnerving thing to see on the mostly laid back and kind being.

"D-Deak?" Allen managed to choke out in question. What had made Deak so upset? Surely it wasn't something he'd said? The last thing he wanted to do was anger the demon now.

"Don't let what that woman in the pub said about you bother you, Allen." Deak said, sternly.

Allen's eyes widened impeccably at the realization that Deak had heard the conversation from earlier. "H-How . . . ?" Allen stuttered out.

"A demon's hearing is an incredible thing. Especially compared to that of humans." Deak said, a slight mischievous glint present in his eye. Just as quickly as it was there, the glint disappeared. "You won't get another "offer" because people here are too shortsighted to see how amazing you are. You're smart, shy and kind, among other things."

Allen knew he had to be blushing now. Such complimentary words had never before been directed towards him. Even Cross, the only human Allen had ever really been close to had talked to him like he was filth. Though, to be fair, Cross talked to most people like that who weren't women, so Allen wasn't special in that regard.

"And you were right." Deak continued, leaving Allen without enough time to properly process what he was hearing. "You aren't stupid, no matter how much the people in this town want you to think you are. But, more than anything, if there is one of us that doesn't deserve the other, then it is me. Me being undeserving of someone so pure as yourself."

Allen opened his mouth with the intention to argue, but Deak raised his hand, lightly, to stop Allen from speaking. "But I heard from someone, once upon a time, that love is not something you do or do not deserve." Deak said gently, his voice softer than before. "It isn't based on one's worth but their heart. I'm convinced that we were destined to meet."

"Why do you think that?" Allen asked, his voice disbelieving.

"My master knew that someone would release me from my curse in 100 years. And now, 100 years later, you're doing exactly that. I don't know why, but this has to be some sort of destiny. It's fate."

Allen felt like these were ridiculous things the demon was saying. Still, he had a hard time looking into the demon's eyes (which sparkled as he linked the two of them to fate) and not being charmed by his clear excitement. "How can you be so sure?" Deak smiled at this question. His eyes closed and his gorgeous smile gleefully spread across his face. Cue Allen's heart beating faster . . .

"Because I wouldn't want to marry anyone else." Deak said, voice soft as silk and just as precious to Allen. The words were simply, but (in introspection) exactly what Allen wanted or, perhaps, needed to hear.

"It's only been a day," Deak went on after a moment. "And yet I cannot imagine marrying someone else. Humans had always been generic to me and rather annoying, but not you. You're-" _Perfect._ Deak did not say but thought the word.

For some reason, he couldn't seem to make it pass his lips. Nonetheless, Allen seem not to notice or simply chose to ignore it as unimportant. The boy seemed to be wrapped up in the warm embrace of Deak's sweet words. The two sat there in silence for a while, but this one last different from the last. It was more comfortable and nice, the two beings in the room genuinely enjoying each other's presence. Eventually, Deak let out a sigh and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Allen asked, extremely (and perhaps irrationally) frightened Deak would just leave him.

"We need to prepare for the ceremony." Deak answered, not looking back at the younger boy. "With circumstances being as they are, it would probably be preferable to get married sooner rather than later."

Allen shifted around on the bed nervously. He felt like something upsetting was coming.

"Remember how I said marriage was a ritual? One that's purpose was to bind two souls together?" Deak asked, delicately.

Allen nodded.

"Well, all rituals worth their salt require specific preparations and materials."

"So what do we need to prepare?" Allen asked, nervously, refusing to meet his fiancé's eyes.

"That's the thing. The problem is . . . well . . ." Deak looked around nervously. "This town is quaint and all, but it doesn't have anything that we need. We'll have to go elsewhere to get our offerings and . . . since it would be a pain to then come back and, seeing as we don't have a reason to do so, I think we shouldn't."

"Shouldn't . . .?" Allen inquired, not getting what Deak was saying.

"I think we should leave and not come back." Deak clarified, hesitantly. Upon seeing the shocked and possibly horrified expression on his fiancé's face, Deak quickly continued in the hope of softening the blow he had likely dealt.

"I don't mean to control you. Believe me, Allen." Deak implored. "I don't wish to tear you away from your home. If you don't want to go, I won't make you and we can come back here after we've gathered the offerings for the ceremony."

Deak walked over and put his hand on Allen's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "But traveling takes time and we need to decide now."

So many things were changing for Allen. He'd always been ghosting through life just trying to survive. Back then, he'd really thought his existence would never be any different. Now, every aspect of his life was escalating to a place the boy would have never thought possible and it was all because of Deak.

It was scary but, at the same time, Allen wasn't sure it was a bad thing. Like perhaps he needed precisely this to get him out of the dark place he was in. In truth, he had created a shell around himself. A futile protection from the words and the harsh gazes of others. Doing this kept Allen from stretching himself and reaching for a better life.

Allen looked at Deak, wordlessly, gaining a questioning look from the demon. _I think I need him._

"I'll go." Allen answered, steadily.

"Eh?" Deak made the surprised sound, coming out of whatever thoughts he had been occupied with as well.

"Let's go. Let's leave. The both of us." Allen repeated.

"Are you sure?" Deak asked, seriously. "I'm not sure we'll be in a position to change your mind later.

Allen couldn't deny that he was nervous. He probably hadn't had enough time to mentally prepare himself for suddenly marrying someone. The boy certainly didn't have a high opinion of himself and didn't trust his own judgment a great deal.

One thing he did know, however, was that he'd already made the decision to trust in Deak. If he couldn't trust in his own senses, then Allen could trust in his. That could be enough for him. He would follow this one person who had shown him so much kindness. He would follow him no matter what happened.

"More than I've ever been." Allen answered just as seriously, his eyes slightly narrowed.

The surprised look on the demon's face turned to one of pure happiness, his iconic smile taking over his features.

"So what is it that we 'need to get elsewhere?'" Allen asked, hurriedly, before he could get trapped in the demon's gaze again.

Deak seemed surprised Allen asked that, but soon smiled again. Adopting his informational tone that he seemed to reserve for that sort of thing, Deak readied to answer. "Firstly, we need flowers. Delphiniums."

The look on Allen's face immediately alerted Deak to the fact that Allen had no idea what that flower looked like, much less where to find it. "It's symbolic. Just like everything else we need to get." He added. "We also need a circular ring and two robes for each of us, one for the ceremony and one for afterwards."

After a moment of thought, Deak apparently felt the need to explain something. "Some artists have taken it upon themselves to have an artistic license with their ring making and make them in square, rectangular or hexagonal shapes, but ours have to be circular."

"Does it really matter?" Allen looked at him curiously.

"Yes! A demon's mating ritual is very particular and it is a major reason why demons rarely wed despite their torturously long natural lifespans. We need to do this right or the contract may not recognize the contract as fulfilled."

Both boys shivered thinking about what would happen if the contract wasn't realized. Deak's eyes became steely at the mere mention of his curse. "Lastly," Deak forced himself to continue. "We will need to do this ritual alone, preferably in a secluded area, during a waxing moon."

"This sounds like an exhausting process." Allen moaned, pathetically.

"It is." Deak smirked sadistically at his companion. "So we better start right away."

Grabbing his complaining fiancé's hand, Deak proceeded to drag the younger boy around his cabin, picking out the thing he either wanted to bring on their journey or leave there.

He didn't want to admit it, but the time he'd been spending with Allen brought a sense of enjoyment that the demon hadn't experienced since a time long before his imprisonment.

Two beings watched them at the two had fun gliding around the cabin.

" _ **Can we do it, yet? I'm tired of waiting!"**_

" _ **We only need to wait a little longer. Just wait until the mating ceremony is over. When that happens, we can target his much weaker counterpart. They can both die together."**_


	7. Delphinium

No one fought for him. Allen wasn't exactly sure why he'd hoped they would. Even after years of abuse and neglect from from the people of this town, somewhere deep inside him, Allen had hoped that the knowledge that he would be leaving forever would arouse something in the people there. Something that cared.

Allen didn't mind how small that caring was just so that he could look at the people that he had grown up around and who had grown up around him (though unpleasant it may have been) and know that they didn't completely despise him. He wondered: was that too much to ask?

Apparently, it was because the townspeople almost couldn't be happier at Allen's departure. Every ounce of realization was like a knife taking a wild stab at his chest trying to hit a vital point, but only succeeding in causing more unnecessary pain. But he didn't need them, Allen reasoned, as he had someone else now. He had Deak and Deak really seemed to care about him; a feat, if you asked the white haired boy.

The two boys practically fled the town after they'd made the joint decision to do so, Deak only stopping at one store just long enough to purchase a satchel and some bread for their trip using, of course, the seemingly ceaseless amount of jewels he seemed to have on hand at the moment. Before the whole reality of the thing could hit the younger boy, he was spirited away by the demon to the town's border.

The rudimentary stone houses slowly transformed into trees and grass leaving only a worn yet underused path to guide the two to the nearest town. Though it was close to such a poor, small town as Allen's old one, this one was somewhat larger and much busier.

Lavi mused aloud that he didn't know what kind of products this town produced or if it would have what they needed for the ritual, but the very idea that it did was promising. At the very least, this new town would surely have some carriages for hire in the vicinity so they wouldn't have to walk too much after getting there.

"I can't believe they didn't have a coach!" Lavi ranted about Allen's old town, his voice taking in a whiney quality. Allen grimaced at the knowledge of how hard he had to try to not find that act even a little bit attractive, too. "They didn't even have horses! Do they just _want_ to be cut off from the rest of the world?!"

Allen didn't offer an answer to the presumed rhetorical question, instead settling for just rolling his eyes and patting the redhead's back in a mock comforting gesture. The two boys continued to talk about this and that until the day turned into late evening. That was when Deak voiced that it was probably best to camp for the night and pick up in the morning.

When Allen heard this, his first thought was: what was Deak thinking?! He couldn't be serious about camping and sleeping outside in the dead of winter and why hadn't Allen thought about that eventuality before heading out with him? The travel time between towns was more than a day's journey even if that day was completely spent walking from dawn til dusk with nowhere to stay in between.

 _Why didn't I think about this? Why didn't I see this coming? Stupid! Stupid!_ Allen inwardly griped.

Hearing the sound of Deak's bag dropping to the ground and the demon in question stepping around it, Allen belatedly related that, for all his important questions and musings, he'd said none of it out loud. That realization was the catalyst for his next outburst.

"Are you nuts?!" Allen bust out before he could stop himself. Instantly and simultaneously, Allen slapped his hand over his mouth as if it would erase what was just said as his eyes widened in astonishment and Deak looked at him with a similar air of shock and surprise.

 _Oh no,_ Allen thought, _I've really done it now._

Allen knew that his words were hasty and disrespectful. Anyone would have found this agitating, worthy of rebuke. This person especially was, by all rights, viewed by society and someone who would be his better. Of a more substantial age with untold but likely vast wealth (making him of a higher rank or social class automatically) and even being a demon. He could easily have had Allen as a slave or a servant, it wasn't like anyone in town would have bat an eye and they would have probably sold him to Deak, in all probability.

Yet, he wanted to marry Allen and treated him as neither of those aforementioned low ranking positions. In this matter, Deak seemed to be treating him as more of an equal, as impossible as that sounded to Allen. The very, very kind demon did all this just for Allen to turn around and speak to him like that. Maybe he was being hard on himself, but people had been hard on him.

In short, Allen knew that he'd gone too far. But, instead of getting angry and perhaps abandoning him to the cold night, as Allen had expected, Deak offered only a genuinely inquiring look. "Why do you think that?" The demon asked, his voice the very definition of innocence.

Allen stayed silent for a moment, unnerved by what had just occurred or what had not occurred, actually. Where was the yelling? Where was the anger? Where was the hatred? True, Allen had learned to expect better of Deak after getting to know the other boy more. However, this had been different. Allen had antagonized him when it was not his place to do so.

But, still, Deak showed none of these negative emotions. Deciding to explain and ignoring his worries about doing so, Allen elaborated. "Well, it is winter so there will be no way for us to stay warm tonight if we stay outside. We'll freeze to death within the hour!"

Allen cut himself off immediately, blushing realizing that he had raised his voice unnecessarily at his companion near the end. Really, what was wrong with him? He wasn't sure whether he was wondering that about himself or his demonic companion or maybe both.

"We won't." Deak said in what he probably thought was a reassuring tone, but Allen only saw question marks. He opened his mouth to ask, but Deak quickly interrupted him. "Just trust me, alright. Soon, you will see."

Allen found it increasingly difficult not to relax seeing that smile Deak gave. "Why not go for a little walk while I get ready. I'll need about ten minutes, anyway." At the curious look Allen gave him, Deak added, "You said that you have never left your home before, right?"

After receiving a nod from Allen, Deak continued. "Woods tend to be beautiful places and great areas to clear your mind and think. I used to go to them all the time especially when things went wrong; when life wasn't as right as I thought that it should be. I think you would like taking a short walk to take in all the new scenery."

Allen nodded. Maybe Deak was just excellent at converting people to his way of thinking, but Allen definitely thought that the redhead had a point. He had tried to be content throughout his life and, for the most part, he was successful at that and never wished for much of anything more than just a slightly easier life. The idea of seeing a forest in winter with the snow covering everything eased Allen's mind slightly and a walk sounded perfect.

"This might be the first time I get to go into a forest and really enjoy it. The only other time I entered one, I left scared out of my mind." The true statement was said in a joking tone as Allen looked pointedly towards the demon at his side.

Deak gave a slightly nervous laugh even as a seemingly natural smile spread across his face. "Very sorry about that, but at least we finally found each other thanks to that." Deak soothed, flashing a cheeky smile as he gestured for Allen to move along.

"Yes." Allen agreed, his voice sarcastic as he visibly rolled his eyes.

Allen and Deak both caught and held each other's eyes for a second, perhaps a second longer than normal, and then Allen turned around to go off to the side woods for a short walk while Deak dropped to his knees on a plot of grass and started raking his hands almost purposely through the grass. Allen could only hope, looking over his shoulder, that there really was a method to the madness and that Deak wasn't just going nuts for real.

The forest had been all Deak implied it would be and more. The scenery, with the almost barren trees covered in snow and little bits of remaining green plants between the clumps of white, was just breathtaking. There were few trees in the town where Allen had lived all his life and the snow had far too often been something of horror and hatred rather than something beautiful.

Even as Allen was walking through this forest, he was cold, chilled near to the bone. But it was pleasant in a way. It wasn't the usual throbbing cold that Allen knew as a terrifying sign that if he did not find substantial cover and warmth soon then he would die from the frigid cold that surrounds him. Winter, snow and cold all translated to the same thing for him back then: a truly chilling way to die.

Allen still didn't know what the future would look life for him even the close future like the next day or after his walk. Yet, when he was with Deak, he was able to let go and relax as he let the weight of his world slide off his shoulders all at once. He felt so much better when he let the demon take control of the situation and worry and deal with all of the problems (and he was better at doing those things than Allen ever was, in probably both of their opinions).

It was maybe because of this calm and the way that he surveyed the forest that he was able to catch the hint of blue on the forest floor. It was nearly eclipsed by a tree trunk and covered in a mound of snow, but the parts that were showing were a dark colored blue. Curiosity getting the better of the white haired boy, as it often did, he slowly moved towards the darkly colored object in the snow.

Kneeling next to it, Allen moved the snow away from the top and the sides of it to find a tall, healthy flower, seemingly the only one left in the forest. There was a single stalk of it, growing straight up in a fat shaft. There were little flowers all over it, on it's sides and the top where it ended in a cone-like shape. The little flowers so completely covered it that whatever the stalk looked like under them remained a complete mystery unless he was willing to pluck a substantial amount of them to see, which he was not.

The flowers almost formed a star shape except with quite a few too many petals and on the inside of them, there were multitude of white petals spanning the inside perimeter of them. Their blue color was the darkest Allen had ever seen, almost navy. The color of frostbite, Allen couldn't help himself from automatically thinking that. The whole stalk grew on a rather much too thin green stem about a foot from the ground.

This beautiful new plant immediately captivated Allen's mind. It seemed so usual and yet so unusual at the same time, but as Allen reached out for it, he suddenly felt a very real chill run up his spine. A cold fear gripped his heart as he suddenly got the acute feeling that someone was behind him. Allen looked behind him so quickly, he could have set a record with it if anyone else had been there to witness it.

For the slightest of milliseconds, when his head was turned enough to just glimpse behind his back but not any more than that, he had seen or almost seen a figure behind him. The second was over far too soon and when Allen got a good look at his back, he couldn't see anything except for the snow and trees and couldn't hear anything besides the wind blowing past.

The figure had been more of a shadow, something whose features, height or anything else that could be used to identify it was completely indistinguishable. Allen continued to stare bind him especially at the spot where he'd seen the shadowy form before. The breeze whipping past cooly brushing past his face and whistling in his ears slowed Allen's frantically beating heart. The boy found himself rooted to the spot until he could feel his heart beat at a normal or even mildly slower than normal rate.

Finally, Allen was able to bring himself to turn back to the navy flower, again casting a quick glance behind himself after doing so, but there was again nothing there. Deciding that he had been away from Deak long enough (and mostly wanting to get back to the demon because he no longer felt safe by himself), the pale boy quickly plucked the flower, snapping the fragile green stem. Then he (part hopped, part scrambled) to his feet and took back to the direction he had come from.

It didn't take long for Allen to retrace his steps back to where he and Deak had "set up camp". That's where Allen found Deak apparently finishing up drawing something that looked like a rune symbol in the ground. Allen stood there, behind him, silently as a multitude of questions flew through his mind. The most prominent of which were: "What is that thing?", "What is that supposed to do?" and, most prominently, "How did he draw that in the grass, so smoothly with no tool, no less?".

"I'm done so you can come over now." Deak called without turning around. Confused about how Deak knew he was there when he'd been pretty quiet, Allen slowly made his way over to the redhead and crouched next to him.

"What are you drawing?" Allen asked, curiously.

"Just a drawing." Deak said, idly. "It will help us keep warm so that will hopefully assuage your fears pertaining to us freezing overnight." He gave a knowing smile.

"How will this help us keep warm?" Allen asked, eyeing the rune skeptically.

"I'll show you." Deak said, sliding just inside the rune. Then he motioned for Allen to join him in it and, after a moment, he did. The second Allen slid inside the drawing, the chill left his body. The cold air and wind still left the surface of his skin cold, but all of the internal chills he had grown used to were gone leaving an almost warm feeling in it's place.

Allen was almost completely in shock, unable to comprehend this level of witchcraft. He felt more than saw Deak's arms wrap around him and pull him flush against their owner's chest. The demon's body heat added to Allen's overall temperature reaching something actually quite comfortable.

"So, are you going to tell me about the flower?" Deak asked, his voice coming close to Allen's ear.

It took Allen a second to get what Deak was referring to, having forgotten about the navy flower clutched in his hand. When he did remember, he hurriedly held it out to Deak so that the redhead could get a better look at it.

"I found it on my walk and decided to bring it back with me. It was the only one I saw. It looks pretty amazing, huh?" Allen asked, unable to squash the excitement he felt rising in himself.

"It does." Deak agreed, pulling Allen closer to him and holding the flower around Allen's closed hand. "Do you know what kind of flower it is?" Allen shook his head no. "It is called a Delphinium and it happens to be something we needed for the wedding." Deak smiled brightly, if a little impishly.

He leaned in and whispered the next bit in Allen's ear. "It's special and therefore has a special meaning. Want to know what that is?" After receiving a "no" in answer to his question, Deak started to say something, but then seemed to think better of it. "Actually, I think this is something best left until the last moment. It will have more meaning that way."

Allen couldn't understand what he meant by that, but didn't think it would prove worthwhile to ask. Instead, he asked, "Did you want to stop here because you knew we would find what we needed?"

Allen felt Deak's shoulders tense for a moment before he released the tension then giving an almost mirthless chuckle and tightening the hug he was giving Allen slightly. "No." Deak answered, smiling at his fiancé. "Coincidence. It was just a coincidence."


	8. Fascinations and Rings

The morning came too soon for Allen as he found himself unwillingly dragged from a soothing sleep. The white haired boy became aware of his surroundings at a gradual pace, first noting the slight chill in the air that tickled the back of his neck. Slowly but surely being drawn back into reality, Allen noticed an almost comforting pressure around his body.

Held tight against a warm surface that heated his entire being, it was perhaps the rising and falling movement of said surface (the telltale sign of a pair of lungs breathing in and out) that quickly brought Allen to the realization that the surface keeping him warm was, in fact, another person's body. Another person . . . Deak. Allen's groggy mind was able to supply the name of the person in a curiously instantaneous manner.

Allen's head had been turned off towards the side, away from the person holding him as the side of his head was pressed quite firmly against what Allen was quite sure had to be the chest region. He tried to wriggle his way around to see Deak's expression though he wasn't quite sure why. Deak's expression would probably not be very telling since the demon was no doubt still asleep.

However, Allen just wanted to see it. So Allen maneuvered carefully so as not to wake the sleeping man and ruin the moment or disturb him enough to tighten his grip on Allen and stop him from being able to move further. Finally, Allen was able to turn his head and lean it back far enough to accommodate glancing up at his companion's face.

Asleep, Deak looked so innocent (not that he didn't sometimes don that look when he was awake, as well). His breathing was deep, but steady and the moment wasn't disrupted by any unattractive snoring. The man, himself, shifted comfortably, alternating unpredictably between tightening and loosening his grip around Allen's frame.

Positive that he could never explain what transfixed him so, Allen continued to stare up at Deak's sleeping face until he saw the other man's facial features start to twitch. Before Allen knew it, Deak's eyes were open and staring back deeply into his own silver orbs. Becoming aware of the situation and how he had been caught staring at his partner while sleeping.

At the thought of what he had been caught doing (not to mention the fact that he was embarrassed about being caught doing it), Allen felt his face warm. He didn't need a mirror to know that it had become visibly tinged with pink or even red. He wanted to say something, anything to alleviate some of his awkwardness, but knew of nothing suitable to say. He also knew, from past experiences with himself, that he would likely only succeed in furthering his own humiliation by saying too much of the wrong thing.

So the silver haired boy bit down lightly on his tongue. Not hard enough to draw blood but enough to make sure it stayed where it was and not try to form any words. "Holding his tongue", if you will. So Allen continued to hold his tongue as he waited anxiously for Deak to comment on it, wondering what the demon would say; what he would think. But he didn't. Comment, that is.

"Good morning." Deak spoke pleasantly, not moving his gaze from Allen's or even lowering the intensity.

Allen wasn't sure what to say. He was certain that Deak didn't just not notice the staring and yet he wasn't mentioning it. Was he not going to say anything? Did that mean that Allen shouldn't mention it, either? Was Deak trying to be considerate? While all these questions and more were swimming through Allen's surprised and frazzled mind, another unexpected question cut into his conscious.

"Good?" Deak asked Allen, the look he was wearing was neither one of surprise or of confusion, but one of understanding and knowing. It took Allen a moment to realize he was referring to the unanswered question of how he had slept and, even then, all he could do was nod up and down as a "yes".

"Great. I slept well, too." Deak replied, without missing a beat. "I think it's about time we should get up now, don't you?" It sounded more like a statement than a question making Allen wonder if he had any real say in it or if he would be convinced to go along with it regardless. Allen opted to answer anyway with another nod.

Not waiting any longer, Deak pushed Allen away slightly, just enough to be able to stand up without bumping into the smaller boy, and then held Allen's hand and pulled him up. "Where are we going now?" He asked Deak after wiping some dirt residue off of his pants. Allen had been so comfortable that he found he could almost forget that they'd slept on the ground together all night.

"The town we've been walking towards is pretty close. If we walk there at a steady pace, we will probably only have to do so for another two hours."

Allen couldn't stop the grimace from flitting across his face. He hadn't walked much before and especially not as much as he had been the last day. So, understandably, the thought of doing even more walking, even if only for another two hours, did not exactly excite the boy.

Ever the perceptive one, Deak easily noticed the look and discerned what it was about, rushing to appease his young fiancé. "I know this must be hard for you," Deak started with an overwhelmingly caring tone that made Allen instantly relax upon hearing it. Deak paused for a moment and then got a mock wicked look upon his face and leaned in close to Allen's. "But please try and bear with it. I'll tell you what. Tonight we will stay in an inn in town and the next day, when we leave, we will surely be able to find a carriage there that will take us wherever we wish to go."

The last bit was spoken in a conspiratorial manner that made it seem like the demon thought he was making some sort of forbidden pact. The scene was so silly to Allen that he couldn't help a string of giggles issuing forth from his lips. Deak, seeming pleased by this, drew back a small distance from Allen acting as if both his job had been accomplished and like nothing at all had happened.

The next two hours rolled by even quicker than before and the two boys found themselves walking towards the center of town. Allen was excited at the prospect of being in a new place and wanted to look around at every tree and every shop. Compared to his own town's state, which was admittedly very lacking even for someone who had lived there all their life and had nothing to compare it to, this town was thriving in abundance.

If Allen hadn't walked the whole way there himself and been assured by Deak, who Allen believed to be a very credible source, the white haired boy would not have been able to believe that such different places could be neighbors. Heck, Allen knew it was true and he was still having a hard time with it. Still, Allen was excited.

Deak insisted, however, that the best shops were always in the center where all the people were. He insisted that he had "ways" of knowing these things and that he had lived "a long time" so he was an expert. So, Allen allowed his red haired fiancé to lead him more into the crowds of people that lined the streets. That was around the time that Allen thought of something.

"Um . . . Deak?" Allen asked warily, looking up at him through his eyelashes.

"Hm?" Deak hummed in question, thinking about just how cute Allen looked while doing that.

"Did we need to buy an item in this town or was it just for rest and a carriage?"

Deak looked confused for a moment before his eyes lit up in understanding and he gave another of his brilliant smiles that Allen was starting to really love (and even beginning to wonder how he could have lived without it). "You mean for the ritual." He stated.

Allen nodded excitedly and Deak continued. "There is one thing. We need several more items (not that many), but they are far *ahem* "richer" items that are not likely found here. We will need to go somewhere special for those. What we can get here, though, is a ring."

"A ring?" Allen asked, quietly, mulling over the words he'd just heard in his head before his eyes lit up with excitement and he began to sport a wide smile of his own. A ring. Something he had never thought he'd wear, not for style purposes or any other.

The boy felt something warm in the pit of his stomach that really made the boy wonder how he had never realized before how much he had wanted something like that. But, then again, he didn't often entertain wishes and fantasies before he met Deak. He needed to put all this thoughts and energy into survival and dreaming never helped him one bit.

Allen paused in his thoughts for a moment. Was that what he was doing with Deak? Dreaming? Hoping, perhaps? He wondered idly if that was a good or bad thing before coming to the conclusion that he had no answer to that. Maybe he could come up with an answer for it later on after he finds out where following the demon leads him. Sometime during Allen's internal debate (if you can call it that), Deak's hand had found Allen's own and entwined their fingers, holding it tightly.

Soon Deak located a table on the side of the path that had many kinds of fine jewelry that was apparently to his liking. Dragging him to the stall, Deak began vigorously pawing through the rings looking for a pair that suited the two of them. He wasn't gentle, either, and tossed any of the rings that he'd picked up that did not meet his expectations roughly back onto the table much to the chagrin of the man selling them.

It was obvious that the merchant wanted to glare at Deak for his behavior, but was too smart to consciously insult a customer (hence risk losing a much desired sale) and so he settled for glaring at Allen instead. And glare he did. It unsettled Allen so much that he cautiously moved behind Deak so that the redhead could act as a barrier between the two men.

Unseeing of this, Deak continued on with his search for the perfect ring for his love. . . . His love? Deak's fingers paused for a second over another ring before moving to grab it for a closer inspection. His love. When did he start thinking of Allen that way? Not that there was anything wrong with thinking about his fiancé like this, it would be better for the both of them if he did, but his curiosity desired to know when it happened.

The demon's thoughts were wandering along this line when something caught his eye. It seemed that Allen saw it too as both their eyes landed on the object on the table at the exact same time. Deak reached out for it slowly as if he didn't believe something so beautiful and perfect could actually be sitting there waiting for him and Allen to claim it, but it was. The perfect ring.


	9. Capitulum

Allen watched as Deak reached for the most unique ring he had ever seen. Whether it was classically beautiful or not was irrelevant as he had never seen anything quite like it. The ring was a piercing, dark black that looked to the young man as if it had carved from darkness itself. Realistically speaking, however, it was probably made from some rare stone or gem. Though, Allen had to admit, he didn't know what the stone or gem could be and he wasn't actually a good judge of those kinds of things.

There were two small (compared to the other stone in the ring) bright red gems ingrained into the top of the ring. Allen did know enough to be almost certain that these two gems were rubies. The two rubies were on either side of another gem that was about twice their size. It looked similar in color to the rubies, but was a darker, almost blood, red rather than the bright and cheerful red that the rubies exuded.

It would have seemed that that was it, but luckily Allen felt the need to look closer at the ring and noticed something he hadn't before. The boy quickly realized that there was another feature to the ring. One that, while not exactly hidden, could have been easily overlooked with just a cursory glance.

The inside of the ring was made of a different material than the outside or, at least, encrusted with it. This new material was such a pale pink that it was almost white in color. Allen had no idea what this material could be, but looking at it made the boy think of looking through a foggy glass with a pink hue. Allen absently noted that both the pink and the red embellishments complimented the main black substance of the ring. After taking notes of these things, Allen was finally able to draw his eyes from the admittedly strange but no less interesting piece of jewelry to the face of the person holding said piece of jewelry.

Just like many other times since he'd met the man (not sure if he has to be human to be considered a "man"), Allen found himself much too interested in what the demon might be thinking. A glance at Deak's face showed that he was still staring assessingly at the ring even as his facial features revealed nothing of what he was discovering from it. Deak's faced seemed closed off from emotion as he held the ring unnecessarily close to his face.

The small "conniving" part of Allen's mind that he disturbingly thought might have been growing since he became involved with Deak (A/N: Imagine that, consorting with demons makes you darker . . .), piped up that he should do something to wipe that blank look right off the other man's face and get him to show some emotion again. Just as Allen was considering what he should do to accomplish this, Deak came to a conclusion on the ring and spoke up.

"We will take this one." He said to the merchant. The merchant almost seemed relieved behind his irritation at the prospect of Allen and Deak retreating from his stall and quickly quoted Deak the price.

Having not been particularly cultured in fine items and jewelry, Allen had no real frame of reference to draw from to conclude that the man was trying to sell the piece for more than anyone else would be willing to pay, but he could always suspect it especially since he would not put it past the man. Deak didn't answer verbally giving Allen no insight into his thoughts on the pricing.

The white haired boy didn't say anything either as Deak reached into his satchel and came out with a little more than the "shopkeeper" had even asked for. He had learned by then that Deak did not really care for saving supplied and money and had a seemingly inexhaustible source of the latter. The man seemed surprised at the quick agreement to his pricing as if he had been expecting from strong reluctance to a big fight over it, but not acquiescence. No, it seemed he hadn't expected that at all.

He was so stunned that any actions he could (or should) have been performing just then completely fled his mind, leaving him looking something like a zombie or a husk of a man. He didn't even think of grabbing for the [exuberant amount of] money in the redhead's hand like the greedy man Allen scathingly pegged him as. Though it started to worry the white haired boy slightly when Deak nonchalantly moved to turn the merchant's hand palm up and dumped the coin in before placing the ring safely into a small compartment in his satchel.

The demon then turned away from the stall and the man still hadn't moved and neither had Allen. The ever perceptive Deak must have noticed this as he hastened to grab Allen's scarred hand, lacing the fingers with his own, pulling Allen away from the stall and leaving the merchant to his business (that he would likely resume once he got back to his senses).

"Should we really have just left him there?" Allen asked with reluctant concern for the merchant even though he did not really want to deal with the rather rude man and had yet to look back in his direction since the two had left.

"Of course." Deak said easily with a cheerful smile that made it seem as though he had just come out of his favorite bakery.

It never ceased to amaze Allen how Deak talk about anything (even kind of crazy things) with that completely innocent smile on his face. At the best of times, Allen found, it was like looking into the face of a little kid. This time was no different and Deak looked every bit the perfect angel even as the two boys were discussing the ramifications of leaving a petrified man in the street. A small feeling of fondness for the red headed demon rose in Allen's chest as he desperately tried to push the feeling down for reasons unknown to the white haired boy.

"He will be fine, I'm sure." Deak continued, pleasantly enough.

"So what are we going to do now?" Allen asked. "We've gotten what we came here for so are we going to go and find an inn now?"

Deak stopped walking for a moment and shot Allen an incredulous glance. "If we went and did that, we would likely end up spending the rest of the day sleeping or something equally as useless and that would just be a waste. No, we should enjoy this lovely day." Deak tightened his grip on Allen's hand and tugged the younger boy into another direction.

"Things could have changed, of course, since the last time I have been here, but I remember a fountain area where people (lovers) would sit and talk with one another."

"So we are going to sit and talk?" Allen inquired in a mildly surprised manner.

"There a problem?" Deak asked simply, giving Allen a sidelong look and raising an eyebrow in question.

"No, no! No question." Allen hurried to say. "It was just unexpected."

"Hm." Deak hummed, noncommittally. "At any rate, there was something specific that I thought we should talk about."

"Oh?" Allen looked at Deak, his expressive gray eyes widening dramatically.

"I recall promising you answers on my past life and I am a man of my word." Allen could not fight down a smile this time.

After much walking and looking around at the rest of the town, the two men found the remembered fountain still where it was during Deak's last visit over one hundred years ago. Heading over to the fountain, the two boys sat down together at the edge of it. Though they had wanted a discussion, there was almost an unspoken agreement between the two of them that it would be best to sit peacefully for at least a little while and enjoy the atmosphere before easing into the talk.

There were plenty of people about despite the cold weather and chilly air. While not drastically so, Allen could tell simply by how many people passed by them that this town's populace was quite a bit larger than his was. His _old one_ had been, Allen reminded himself. Those people had done nothing for him and everything against him. Home or not, the boy knew it would be unwise to cling to a place that bred such resentment and bad memories. _Those nasty villagers can have the town_ , Allen decided, _I don't need it anymore_.

As he thought about this, the boy's eyes followed a mother in what was probably very poor clothing for the area. She had very black hair hastily tied into two ponytails on either side of her hair. She was walking with her children with one child on each side of her with each of her hands holding onto a child. Even from a distance, Allen could tell she had a very firm grip on the children as if she was afraid they would disappear if she were to loosen her hold even slightly. She walked in the determined manner of someone who had a place to go and a time to be there and that time was the very next second.

He followed her with mildly interested eyes as she rushed past them and disappeared into the crowd behind them. Even though Allen wasn't interested in women in the manner that many (but not all) men were, he could easily tell that she was really very pretty compared to her class. And if she had had the opportunity to dress better, wear high-in-quality makeup and have not much to do with her time but work on how to present herself, she may have been even considered exquisitely beautiful.

Allen did wonder, however, how it was that she had children that looked to be around the ages of five and seven when she, herself, looked to be sixteen or seventeen (so around his age). Many women her age were married or about to be married, of course, especially in the higher classes, but he had never seen them have such old children by that age.

Perhaps they were her siblings, Allen thought, even if they didn't look exceedingly close to her in appearance to be so. With families working as hard as they had to to get by, it would make perfect sense for an older sibling to take on the child watching responsibilities although, traditionally, the elder of the siblings would take on work and bring in money rather than take on the children which the mother usually did in any circumstance. Did they have a mother? If not, then that was an equally applicable answer.

"Ahem." The sound of Deak clearing his throat in an effort to gain Allen's attention came from beside him.

Coming out of his stupor, Allen turned to his red haired fiancé who finally seemed ready to talk.


	10. A Demon's Past

"There _was_ something specific I wanted to talk to you about." Deak started.

"Which is?" Allen asked, warily, his eyes never leaving the other man.

"If you will recall, we met under . . . unusual circumstances with me in . . . a rather "compromised" position." Deak stated, carefully.

"You mean the fact that you were trapped in a wine bottle in the forest for a hundred years?" Allen clarified, bluntly.

Upon hearing this, Deak let out a loud breath and got an exasperated look on his face. He allowed a slightly weary smile onto his face to assure that Allen would know that Deak wasn't actually upset with him, he was merely exasperated by the characteristic bluntness of his fiancé. That and he had been feeling far too embarrassed over that predicament to talk about it specifically.

"Yes . . . that." Deak agreed, begrudgingly. "The one that had trapped me there in the first place was my adoptive grandfather." Allen opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by Deak holding up a hand. Seeing the younger boy reluctantly close his mouth, Deak continued. "But to truly know the reasons behind that, one must start at the beginning."

"The beginning?" Allen parroted in confusion.

"Well, maybe not the beginning of everything, but we'll start where it matters."

 _Demons were far better known in the area over a hundred years ago. While there weren't as many around as there had been up to a thousand years in the past, Demons do have a habit of congregating. Demons, true to their names, were not the kindest nor the more altruistic of characters; often times antagonising humans merely because they could._

"Is that the reason why I have heard stories about demons eating, slaughtering and/or enslaving humans in the past?"

"Yes, Allen. Now shush and let me finish the story."

"Sorry."

 _Some demons had grouped up and worked together, but this was done exclusively done by demons who wished to achieve something that was hard to do on their own. It was not hard for demons who thought this way to find like-minded demons as partners of sorts. Demons simply did not choose to be in one another's company because they found it enjoyable._

 _While talking to and being with some demons could be akin to humans being in the company of their very favorite friends or family, most demons do not actually make for very good company. And so avoiding said company often became necessary or desired. Having said that, to gain what they wish to attain, many demons throughout time have also found sharing their company with other demons to be desired or necessary at the best of time and so found themselves doing so. They often grouped up to travel vast distances as it is easier in groups, but some demons also took this approach to terrorize humans._

 _This development combined with the knowledge of their overall personalities led to their infamy concerning the acts of kidnapping and torturing humans. Human hunting had quickly become a favorite pastime for the more violent demons. Even for the least violent and oppressive of the species, humans were looked down upon as inferior to demons. Whether or not humans are inferior to demons is irrelevant. What is important is that the demons of a hundred years ago believed they were. I did, as well, although I was not a particularly violent demon._

"Why did demons think that humans were not as good as them?"

"That is complicated, Al. Demons are stronger and faster than humans which lends to the idea of demons being better, but it is not the main reason.

 _There is a lesson to be learned, however, and that is that people can only be oppressed for so long before they react violently in turn. In this circumstance, humans disliked being unable or disallowed to defend themselves from the demonic menace that threatened them. They, like demons, understood that they were stronger together and knew that if they wanted to stand a chance against the demons that tortured them, they would need to form large, organized groups. A war of sorts broke out between the humans, who wanted protection and who had grown to view demons as purely dark creatures, and demons, who did not value humans enough as a species to change their behavior and show them more respect._

"And what side of the war were you on?"

"The side against humans and we are getting to that point, but we are not there yet."

 _Now, since you seem to be one of those who have heard tales of the exploits of demons, I am sure that I need not tell you that demons live for a very, very long time. In those years before the war, about twenty years beforehand, I met rather old man. Before you ask; yes, he was human and old as dirt, as well. I was far older than he and even I was wracking my brain most days wondering how it was that he was still alive. But I digress._

 _I was a vagrant of sorts and, as such, did an amazing amount of traveling throughout my life. Eventually, the time and place of one of my travel destinations coincided with his own and we met. You recall what I said about demons and, to a lesser extent, humans forming small groups for mutual benefit? Yes? Good. Then you will understand why the two of us did what we did next._

 _The old man and I, the man said he had no name, instantly recognized how similar we were. Not just with our lives but also with our thought processes and our personalities. Add in the knowledge that we were both avid travelers and you have a perfectly beneficial partnership. Regarding the fact that the old man had no name (though perhaps he simply got rid of his or forgot it long ago), he insisted that I must call him something to avoid any sort of confusion._

 _He had told me that the reason why he traveled (more or less) was because he desired to see the world and glean information for future generations to someday read and learn about. A rare but great opportunity for him to journal such informations was war which he had already experienced a few of by the time I had met him. In light of this, I decided to call him Bookman. I already had a time at the time of our meeting, but demons do habitually change theirs during important events. Therefore, gaining a partner (in the marrying sense or any other) could count as such and I did give him a name so I thought that it would only be fitting for him to give me one in turn._

 _He gifted me a name with meaning, although arguably not a favorable one, which did suit me, regardless. That is the title by which you know me now, Deak. We traveled with each other and helped one another and recorded what we experienced with each other for many years, the next twenty, and though I was not willing to admit it then, a hundred years in a wine bottle allows a person the opportunity to reevaluate their point of view. Now, I can admit with no more mental resistance, that I gradually grew to care about the old man. By the end, I cared for him a great deal._

"Why did you not wish to admit that you cared for him? Surely it would not create a problem? Even though he was human, you said it yourself that he was your partner. If he was not your enemy, there could be nothing wrong with liking him."

 _Al, there is something you must understand about some of the people in this world. Many people crave love and emotional support and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there are also many who view emotions and strong emotional attachments as weaknesses; unnecessary obstacles that weigh one down. And they have these views for very good reason._

 _I saw it many times with humans in the war. Strong fighters who could have lived, dying because they made the emotional choice to jump in front of someone else in order to "save" them and got themselves shot (generally with arrows, not guns) or stabbed. People who could not defend themselves that could have avoided being in any truly dangerous situations had their already short lifespans drastically shortened because they ran towards danger rather than away because of altruistic concern for the safety of others. People who fear growing attached to others cannot really be blamed for their fears if these are the kinds of images their minds conjure up at the thought._

 _Bookman and I were two of those kinds of people. We did not find ourselves with the desire to open our hearts to another. That was yet another thing that we had in common. To us, emotions and strong interpersonal attachments were weaknesses and held absolutely no merit. We were averse to further emotion, as well. Anger and hatred, among other emotions, are blinding and can hinder a person's ability to function. We used these views to push us towards our shared aim of remaining neutral in the lives of others. It is how we were able to bear witness to so many wars without stress and we completed our job successfully for several years, merely being impartial observers in the shadows._

 _However, time changes all things and I happened to be one of those things that changed the most. Perhaps it was because I had joined the quest after Bookman had or one could attribute it to the fact that I was always more prone to show emotion and get emotionally invested in things (despite my effort against doing so), but in time I found myself slowly picking a side. Being a demon, myself, I would naturally sympathize more with the demonic side of the war whether or not I "should" feel that way._

 _Fate had me witness a number of atrocities committed by humans in the name of their "freedom" and those atrocities included burning demons alive simply to horrendously injure them, not kill, and taking control of weaker-willed demons and forcing them to cannibalize other demons. The humans knew the latter as a proven way to kill demons which, I reiterate, were and still are notoriously hard to kill. Humans are not known for their ability to uncover information, but for using and reusing information they had already stumbled across. Even heavily archaic or impotent ways of killing demons were more likely to be pursued by the primeval people than more advanced ideas. Yes, that also made me further displeased with them._

 _I will admit now that I had slowly but surely allowed myself to become corrupted by the other demon's views. I began to attack humans. It was nothing strategic or even intended beforehand, at first, but done when an acceptable opportunity presents itself. Eventually, my actions escalated to the point where I would occasionally teaming up with other demons to orchestrate kills and sneaking away from Bookman at night to look for humans to destroy._

 _Bookman had tried to talk to me about what I was doing, but I would not listen. He tried to convince me that I was being mentally affected by this, but I resisted. I did not want to believe that I was wrong which I would have to if I admitted that I was deeply altered by the experiences. Our relationship became strained to the point where we barely spoke to one another. When we did speak, any conversation would immediately devolve into a fight; a shouting match, really. After a particularly nasty argument, full of scathing words and hurtful rejections, I was truly considering breaking away from Bookman. I likely would have if I had ever gotten the chance._

 _Not one hour after the argument found me in a magically induced sleep from which I only woke after Bookman deemed it proper. I awoke in a field of sorts, encircled by trees in a most unnatural circle, with Bookman as the only other soul around. I recognized what this was the moment I took in my surroundings; he was performing a ritual. A powerful one. See, humans have a certain amount of magic in them just as demons do. With the right knowledge and practice, they can perform rituals and other such things._

 _He said two more lines to me before leaving me forever trapped. I will never forget these words as they have haunted me these last hundred years._

 _He said: "_ _Deak, for your crimes against humanity, you will be imprisoned for one hundred years. But your fate will not reside in this prison, but with the one who frees you from it."_

 _And it was with that that he performed a final incantation and locked me away in the prison that you were destined to find me in. I recognized the spell and have thought about it often, especially the time I was given of 100 years. The time I had left to wait for my chosen one. You see, it was an especially hard spell that specialized in the binding of fate. Demons believe in soulmates and, in fact, have bonded quite a few of them._

 _This particular ritual binds the will and fate to its bidding and forces two soul mates, two of those destined to love one another, to meet. Bookman all but said that I must suffer waiting a hundred years imprisonment before then being set free by the one I will grow to love most and that is you. A hundred years later, you, Allen, set me free and I will love you for it. Our previous relationship notwithstanding, I have told you some very disturbing truths about my past and who I used to be. Now, I have but one question for you to answer._

 _Knowing this, Allen, will you turn away from me? I will not beg you to stay, but I will ask. Stay with me, please, because you're all I need._


	11. Silken Garments

The next morning, Allen woke up to find his body pressed against someone else's and two long arms wrapped around his waist. For the moment, Allen didn't question it and happily snuggled into the heat that surrounded him. _Happy? Huh._ Was that something Allen had ever really felt before? He had been pleased, of course, when something good had happened. By that logic, he had also been happy.

But that wasn't what he was feeling now. No, the kind of happiness he was feeling at this moment was something else entirely. The best Allen's mind could come up with was that he felt like he was laying on a cloud in the heavens where every ray of light found him and beamed into him, spreading their warmth throughout his body.

Unfortunately, Allen's frivolous remembrances of his past stirred up more consciousness than he would have liked. Reluctantly coming into the present, Allen became aware for the second time in as many days that the warmth encompassing him belonged to Deak. The demon had the younger boy firmly snuggled against his chest, his arms wound tightly around his frame. Funny, it was, that Allen had never really had anyone to seek comfort (physical or emotional) from and, now that Allen had Deak, they spent every night sleeping together.

Deak gave a loud, groggy groan and shifted in the bed. Though he shifted roughly, his arms never left Allen and even tightened further rather than let him go. Allen could admit at this moment, if nowhere else, that he really did enjoy the closeness he felt with the other man.

 _Maybe._ The white haired boy pondered. _I can allow myself to enjoy this. At least, while he is unconscious. Heaven knows Deak would never let me live it down if he saw me like this._ With that thought, Allen snuggled in closer to Deak's chest, folding his arms in between them and emitting a weary sigh.

The young boy's eyelids began to feel heavy and slowly drooped down, the boy offering absolutely no resistance as they fell. The lure of sleep dulled the boy's senses so much that he didn't notice Deak's eyes had opened and were watching him carefully as he went to sleep. The boy didn't even notice the hand soothingly rubbing his back as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Eventually, Allen was forced to get up by his demonic fiancé who insisted that he had slept long enough and they had one more thing to do together. So, with that, the two men were dressed and walking out of their hotel in record time. That short amount of time being entirely due to Deak as Allen was still reluctant to leave the building as Deak dragged him out.

"Why do you sleep so much?" Deak asked in a purposefully childish voice.

"Because I am still growing! I need it!" Allen whined, mirroring the childish voice back at Deak. He didn't really dwell on the fact that he had never really had the chance to be childish before, let alone do it intentionally in order to complain or joke with a companion. "You would not understand! You are older than me! And a demon! You are bigger and stronger than I . . ."

"I am taller, too." Deak supplied, cheekily. The demon made a good show of pretending to try and rein in his grin when his fiancé shot him a dirty look.

"Jerk." Allen mumbled in faux irritation, glancing away. "You could have at least allowed us to get breakfast at the inn before we left. Surely whatever you wish to get can wait that long?"

"Oh." Deak said, a look of recognition coming over him. Upon seeing that, Allen let out an exasperated sigh, realizing that his companion quite literally hadn't even notice that they had left without breakfast. "I suppose it could have, but I was so excited." Deak said, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Allen shook his head slightly, wondering why he still bothered himself with questioning the demon's behavior when a query suddenly popped into his head. "Wait a moment." Allen spoke, looking thoughtfully at the other boy. "What about this trip has you so excited? You were never this way with the others before this."

"That is because," Deak started, energetically. "These are the last things we need to purchase before we can be wed."

"Ah." Allen made the sound as a form of acceptance, but he was far more questioning in his own mind. Was Deak excited to marry him or was he happier about just getting his purchasing business over with. Allen hated when he got those kind of emotional about Deak. He didn't get them or why they happened. Why should he care if Deak was more interested in marrying him or finishing their business?

He'd been having these thoughts somewhat frequently since he'd met the demon, but they had been happening even more since their talk the day before.

 _You're all I need . . . Allen . . . will you stay with me?_

When Deak had asked that, Allen didn't know what to say. Of course, he had no intention of leaving and breaking the demon's heart. No matter what Deak did to humans before, that had been a hundred years ago and he had been so kind to Allen, the only person that had ever been kind to him. The young man had always valued loyalty above (just about) all else so he was going to be loyal to the demon even if it killed him. No, what he didn't know was how he was going to put those sentiments into words for the other man.

All Allen was really able to get out was the simple sentence "I won't leave you" and that was all. However, Deak had almost been expecting for Allen to rebuke him for his past and was ridiculously happy with the fact that Allen was willing to accept him alone. There was also a warmth in his eyes and voice that the redhaired man might have also noticed that helped him in accepting the single statement. He had heard that some people could communicate solely with their eyes, but Allen had never believed that until that moment.

Nothing more was said after that, not by Allen nor by Deak. They just sat quietly together in the most comfortable, accepting silence Allen had ever felt. They had stayed like that for a while until, quite out of nowhere, the fatigue from their day walking around town seemed to catch up to Allen. At first, Allen leaned only slightly against Deak to get his bearings. However, as the minutes ticked by, he seemed to relax more and more against the redheaded man, seeking further relief from the oncoming exhaustion.

When the boy was putting all of his weight on the other man, Deak announced that it was about time they go lie down. Deak wrapped his arms carefully but firmly around Allen's waist and pulled him up, ignoring the younger boy's protests. Thinking back on it, Allen was not sure why he was protesting against it, but attributed it to tiredness messing with his reasoning and messing with his brain.

Since Deak seemed to be an expert in coercion, it didn't take long for Allen to stop arguing and allow Deak to lead him. Everything after that point was rather hazy in Allen's mind as he wasn't sure of anything until he felt the softness of a bed his back and a warm body crawl into the bed beside him. He did not spend another minute awake after that and didn't stir until he was woken up the next morning by Deak.

Now, here they were, getting ready to purchase the last item(s) needed for their marriage ritual. Allen was not sure how he felt about that. The prospect of the ritual was both an intimidating idea and an exciting conclusion. Those feelings were on completely different ends of the spectrum and, as such, he was having a hard time balancing the two. He was constantly caught between running from it and looking forward to it.

"Here we are." Deak announced, stopping and turning towards a relatively small store.

Of course, when Allen thought "relatively small", he meant in comparison to the shops in his home town. To see a truly tiny storefront would be to go to Allen's hometown. They were nearly nonexistent there. Back to the matter at hand, Allen immediately recognized what the shop specialized in. The outside of the shop was made from a dirty-white colored stone and a sign above the entrance read "Wedding Robes" in an elegant script.

"We are buying robes for the ritual?" Allen asked. He hadn't expected that.

"Of course there has to be special clothing!" Deak cried, as if it should have been obvious. Thinking about it, Allen supposed that it rather was. Huh. . .

"Well, are we going in?" Allen commented, casually.

"Of course." Deak answered, after a second's pause, smiling. Stepping forward, he grasped the handle to the door of the shop and held it open for Allen.

The white haired boy, however, just stood there staring at the redheaded man like he had just gone crazy. "What are you _doing_?" Allen asked, scrutinizing the man. He knew intellectually, of course, but could not seem to wrap his mind around it due to his emotions.

He had seen it a few times with couples shopping together and parents doing the same with their children. No one had ever done that for Allen, obviously, and he would be the first to admit that none had ever truly cared about him before Deak. So, while this may not make him an expert on displays of affection and common courtesies, he still could not understand the reasoning behind the action.

The children may have had trouble opening the doors and holding them open, but doing so for them was hardly a rule. Unless they were members of rich families or the heirs to good family names, juveniles were not routinely coddled. After all, by the age of nine most children had been actively contributing to their households for a few years already. Being considerate of one should not take much precedence considering much younger babes were off doing the purchasing and chores for their families all on their own.

As far as Allen was concerned, holding a doorway open for your partner who have the ability to do so themselves or doing so for your children who should learn or already know how, were viewed the same way. The behavior was, to him, confusing and irrational. Allen had spent all of his life taking care of himself. He sifted through foliage and dirt when he was starving, When older children started beating Allen up because he was homeless and small, he became a fast runner in order to easily get away from them and even learned the basics of fighting. He was able to occasionally procure money in a town full of hateful and biased people and even gain housing.

Allen might attribute at least some part of some of those accomplishments to luck, but the boy knew that if it was not for his determination, he never would have gotten that far. Heck, he might not have even still been alive by that point if he had had less spunk. He most certainly did not need someone holding doors open for him. While he was thinking this, Deak was looking at him like he didn't know what to do when faced with this reaction.

The redhead opened his mouth, uncertainly. "I am holding the-"

"Do not say it!" Allen interrupted, angrily. Before Deak could say another aggravating (in Allen's opinion) word, Allen rushed into the shop through the unobstructed doorway.

Deak wasted no time in following after the boy even though he was still trying to wrap his head around Allen's unsettling reaction. Upon entering, Allen and Deak saw several rows of robes hanging about wooden racks. There were some tables and dressers lining the walls of the shop that seemed to house an assortment of ornaments including jewelry, veils and perfumes. It was clear by their amount, location off to the side and the lack of variety that these items were not supposed to be the main focus which was why Deak had not bothered to look for the ring here. No, this shop's specialty was occassion robes.

With the perfect timing of someone who had likely been discreetly watching them, the shop owner (or perhaps worker) came into the main area from another room in the back of the shop just as the two boys had had the chance to get a decent look around and started to get bored. The woman who entered was tall individual who, despite seeming to be somewhere in her mid-thirties, looked to be very attractive.

She had somewhat dirty blonde hair with a purplish colored eye. Presumably, the other was the same color, but that could not be verified as dark blonde bangs swept over that side of her face, obscuring it from sight. Her lips were pink and full and appeared to be wearing light makeup to accentuate her best features. The woman wore a simply but lovely black dress that was tight on the bust and near her waist. There was gold trimming all around the edge of the gown but not on the bottom of it.

The neckline of her dress wrapped around her throat and that part was entirely gold fabric. Her attire had no sleeves but she wore matching gold gloves that rode up to her elbows. On her shoulder was a monkey. No real reason, there was just a monkey there. That was strange, but neither man felt they were anywhere near normal enough to begin pointing fingers at other people's strangeness and so said nothing.

"Greetings." The woman said, her features and voice were both unnervingly unemotional. "Welcome, gentlemen, to my boutique. You may call me Ms. Kloud, if you like. What are you here for today?"

Deak was the first to speak. "We need two sets of robes for each of us for our wedding." The redhead gestured to the other boy as he said this to make it abundantly clear who he was referring to.

"Two sets?" Allen burst out, surprised. "As in, two robes for each of us? Why do we need that many?"

"A robe for the ceremony and one to wear for your first night spent together." Ms. Kloud answered before Deak got the chance. Glancing at Allen, Kloud saw that he was still confused and so she sighed and continued. "You can hardly expect to go to bed that night in your wedding robe from the ceremony, now can you?" (A/N: Think going to bed in your wedding dress.) Her tone was slightly exasperated but not condescending.

Allen's eyes got a little wider at hearing this explanation and a tiny, small blush bloomed unwillingly onto his cheeks. The boy ducked his head down, embarrassed by how much he didn't know about the subject. Coming to his rescue, Deak quickly hurried the woman a little ways away from Allen to where he couldn't hear them. Watching them, though, was something he could do and it looked like Deak was telling Kloud what they needed from her shop. The redhead seemed to describe something to her in detail and then allowed her to herd him him off to another part of the shop. Alen could not see what happened after that as it was out of his eyesight.

The white haired boy thought about following them to satiate his natural curiosity on what exactly they were doing, but the larger rational part of his brain told him that it was probably a private conversation that he wasn't meant to know about yet. So, Allen held back and instead entertained himself by wandering around and looking about the room. It was a very busy looking shop with shelves and drawers and racks everywhere there was room.

Allen felt himself unconsciously drawn to one of the dressers that supposedly contained accessories. Picking a drawer at random, Allen pulled open the second one, which yielded nothing of interest. Then he went for the drawer below that, the third one. Immediately Allen found himself faced with what seemed like a drawer of cobwebs.

 _Why would there be a drawer full of cobwebs? Perhaps from underuse?_ As Allen's eyes raked over the interior of the drawer, however, he began to see the contents was actually an unusual type of fabric. The white haired boy tentatively reached out and felt the material between his fingers. The fabric seemed to be white tulle.

Clutching part of the material in his grip, Allen pulled out whatever he had in his hand to get a better look at it. The veil's color and texture was the same as the others in the drawer, at first glance. Allen thought the veil was rather pretty. One of the ends of the veil that most likely ran down the back had little flowers cut out of the fabric. They were hard to notice unless you really looked at it, but Allen decided that it was a nice addition. The fabric flowers weren't very detailed and looked somewhat like daisies.

Allen heard footsteps from somewhere behind him, indicating that Deak and Ms. Klaud had returned from wherever they went. A realization hit the boy as he thought about Deak being back. He had missed him. Allen strongly felt that he should be berating himself for being so clingy since Deak had only left the room, not the shop, and only for around 20 minutes. He felt that he should, but he just felt this explosive, irrational happiness at the knowledge that he wasn't alone anymore, a concept he hadn't before realized bothered him so much.

Allen whipped his body around to face the sound, a greeting for the red haired demon upon his lips. The words caught in his throat when he saw what Ms. Klaud was holding. Standing next to Deak (who had a brilliant smile on his face), the blonde woman had a long white robe draped across her arms. Allen had only ever seen pure white robes being worn by holy men and people of that sort. It seemed unreal that one of them should wear it.

Seeing Allen staring at her arms, Klaud gave a soft, almost imperceptible smile and held the robe up so the boy could see it better. Allen's breath caught in his throat. _It's beautiful . . ._ Allen thought.

The shining, white robe had a simply but intricately detailed design embroidered upon it. The design was not in the center, as one would expect, but slightly to the right (which one could argue made it even more eye-catching. There were two beautiful white birds that Allen had never seen before. The birds had long, delightfully slender, black legs and their white plumage nearly melted completely into the pure white background fabric.

The bird in the foreground stood with legs together and head bowed down, its long beak held closed. The other one that stood behind it looked to have risen slightly, wings and legs spread as if it were taking flight. Overall, it was magnificent and Allen had never seen anything like it. The boy didn't even realize he had started tearing up until he was torn from his examination by Deak's voice.

"I take it that you like your robe?" Deak asked, his smile softening a bit, but looking no less pleased.

"My robe?" Allen repeated, dumbly.

"Of course. Who else did you think was going to wear it?" Deak chuckled.

"You?" Allen said, simply.

"Me?" Deak's eyes widened. "Wearing white? Oh, no, no, no. I'm going with something more . . . black silk. You, on the other hand . . ." Deak paused as he walked over to Allen, cupping the boy's cheeks with both hands and looking down into the boy's eyes. " . . . would look great in white, I think."

Allen could quite literally feel his soul being sucked into those vibrant green eyes that belonged to his fiancé. Idly, the boy wondered if that was an ability that demons possessed.

The white haired boy wasn't sure how long the two of them stayed that way, staring into each other's eyes in such close proximity, but they were brought out of their unconscious staring contest after what felt like seconds by Ms. Klaud who discreetly coughed into her hand to get the duo's attention.

Allen, along with Lavi, turned towards the somewhat imposing woman (especially for a bridal shop owner) and watched her for a moment, expecting her to comment on how they ought to pay and get out of her shop before they spend an eternity lost in each other's eyes. However, after a time passed and she had still said nothing, Allen unexpectedly turned back to Deak and spoke.

"So . . . am I going to be allowed to see your garments for the ceremony?" The boy asked his fiancé in a lighthearted and teasing voice.

"Of course," Deak smirked. "During the ceremony."

"What?" Allen asked, incredulously. "I don't get to see it before then?"

"Don't you like surprises?" Deak retorted. The only answer to his question was a grumble from the shorter boy.

Deak gave a small chuckle. "Well, I like surprises."

* * *

 **Review, please!**


	12. Ceremonial Part 1

**This is the time when I take a moment to respond to some of the comments I got. Anyone can read this or skip if they want to do that. It does have hints and even straight answers about the story so it might be interesting to read.**

 **Alright. To Codename-SN: The ring is inspired by Lavi's headband in Hollow. I originally started looking up gems that were comparable to his bandana in look and color. There are a lot of underlying meanings to everything in this story so I didn't just want the ring to be aesthetic; that wouldn't fit the theme. I like the details too and I think all things are important in some way, but in this story in particular, there are no insignificant details just well-disguised hints.**

 **So, my goal were gems/materials that looked like his second bandanna, but had their own meaning. I soon found the pink interior material (which will all be talked about in part two of Ceremonial) that had a lovely meaning in keeping with the story so I change the slight red highlight of the bandanna to pink and perhaps add a few more things.**

 **As for why his name is Deak here, by far my most asked question ad nauseam, I will answer that in part two of ceremonial where many things hinted at will be discovered. I kind of wanted the ceremony to be a revelation chapter of sorts. I hinted at it in a few chapters though either no one has really figured it out yet or they don't want to spoil it for others by posting it. (I hinted at it during the story of Deak and Bookman's relationship and the information on demons as a whole.)**

 **Now, for the public's reactions to their malexmale relationship. Like I said, there are no insignificant facts, only well disguised hints. This may not be the most historically sound story, but I did try to keep it accurate to the area and time period it's based on including the food and clothing style. This is based somewhere French-European in the 1500's (the Elizabethan era). This time period and area, like many places in this period, did not view homosexuality as harshly as they may have at other times. Depending on the time and location (see: Egypt and Japan) these relationships may have even been coveted and encouraged.**

 **Alan Bray, author of the universal referral on the male homosexuality in the 1500s,** _ **Homosexuality in Renaissance England**_ **, wrote that "[T]he term 'homosexual' did not exist in 1611,' in fact, '[I]t was not until the 1890s that the term 'homosexual' first began to be used in English". They were more often referred to as "sodomites".**

 **Though these kind of relationships had been tumultuous seen through the ages, in this period which can hold up well enough in time period and accuracy, malexmale relationships were neither encouraged nor shunned, so this is the time that I picked. It allows the people to hold no disgust and little care for what the two men do with each other.**

 **If you have any more questions, you can comment more of PM me. Hope this was fulfilling.**

* * *

"Where are we going, Deak?" Allen asked, quietly, feeling nervous. Deak was leading him through a forest not unlike the wherein they first met. His fiancé had told him the night before that they were finally prepared to be wed and that he wanted to do so at the earliest opportunity. It was apparently the way demons preferred or some such.

So, Allen and Deak spent their morning and the rest of their day celebrating their impending union. They tried all manners of expensive meals around the town, never once leaving each other's sides and talking about all kinds of things or even nothing at all. Deak insisted that it was traditional to celebrate a bonding with all-day feasting, preferably with other demons invited as well.

The only reason they were not making such a spectacle of it was because the proper resources for that kind of celebrating were not applicable at the moment and because Deak knew no other demons in the immediate area. By the time the sun started to set and the sky was staining red, Allen found himself being led into a forest that somewhat reminded him of the one at the edge of his old home.

"We need to find a tree." Deak spoke in a contemplative voice.

Feeling playful and more than a little confused, Allen quickly looked around at the surrounding forest in a mocking gesture. "Think I found one." The boy said, sardonically, pointing in a random direction.

Deak gave a light laugh, glancing at his companion with a teasing look in his eyes even as his voice sounded only sensible. "A better one than that."

"A better one?" Allen echoed, looking interested.

"It has to be the right one." Deak mumbled in answer although it seemed as if he were speaking more to himself.

The words _and what would constitute the perfect tree?_ were on the tip of his tongue when his right hand was suddenly grabbed and pulled forward. Allen quickly found himself being dragged through the forest trying to keep up with the now running Deak. Why the demon had suddenly taken off running; Allen had no idea.

Still, if there was anything that Allen had learned by now, it was that things were easier when one simply went along with whatever the redhead did. He would probably find out what he was doing later, anyway. So the young men (young man and a boy, by today's standards, anyway) ran through the forest.

It probably would have looked a strange sight to anyone watching it; a boy with silver hair being very nearly dragged through the forest by his hand rushing after an older boy whose body showed no form of strain from running, an observation that brought no small amount of envy to Allen as he huffed and puffed along behind him. It was at some point during the run that the white haired boy found himself glancing over to the side and something strange happened.

At the speed they were going, the woods they passed were reduced to one big blur. No, there was nothing singular about it. There was something that was just so "many" about all of the colors whirling by, blurring together endlessly. It had, Allen felt, it's own kind of beauty albeit not a very obvious kind. Watching it, Allen felt he was staring at nothing and everything at the same time.

He had been noticing so much more of the innate beauty in the world than before. His fiancé seemed to have a way of bringing that attentiveness out in him with his own. It could be Deak's open mind or strangely different attitude compared to the people he had always been surrounded by. Maybe it was that, with his new fiancé to take care of him, Allen was free for the first time in forever to simply enjoy his surroundings and life in general.

Allen's dizzying mind watched as the varying shades of brown and green that made up the forest flew by. So entranced was he that the boy didn't notice right away when he and Deak stopped running.

"DId you have fun?" Deak queried, lightly. Not for the first time, he acted like nothing happened and he didn't so anything weird or unexplained.

"Yes . . ." Allen replied hesitantly, still not completely used to the other's mood swings and changes in attitude.

"Great! It was meant as more of a distraction than anything else." The demon commented, mildly. "And, look, I found a tree." Forcing himself to ignore the rest of that statement until a later time, Allen's eyes slid to the direction in front of them where Deak was facing.

He had to admit, as far as trees go, this one was a cut above the rest. Again, for a tree. It was a very large tree with roots stretching along the ground that were thicker than his thigh. The trunk, if hollowed out, could probably hold three or four people inside of it. The top of the tree stretched up into the sky to the point where he couldn't see it anymore.

"This is a very large tree." Allen narrated, staring up it at with something akin to wonder in his eyes. "Is that all you need in a tree? To be big?" He asked.

"I . . . needed to make sure that it was big enough for our purposes?"Deak phrased the statement similarly to a question even though it didn't really brook an answer.

"Our purposes?" Allen hedged.

"It needs to be big enough to walk through."

" . . . " Allen stared at the demon for a moment, his brain lethargically wrapped itself around his words. ". . . what?"

Without answering him, Deak stepped forward towards the trunk. The demon pulled out a small knife from somewhere in the cloak he was wearing and started carving a design into the tree trunk. The symbols reminded Allen of what his fiancé had drawn on the ground to warm them a few days prior, although the designs were quite a bit more intricate than before. Deak must have had a great deal of skill to do the perfect little swirl pattern that weaved in and out of each other without actually touching.

Deak gently placed his palm on the symbols on the tree and turned around a little so he could look back at his companion. "Take my hand and close your eyes." Deak ordered, delicately. Upon seeing the younger boy open his mouth with a disbelieving look on his face, the demon hasted to add, "are you really prepared to argue about this?"

Thinking how he couldn't really understand the strange magics his fiancé seemed capable of and remembering how fruitless it really was to argue with the man, Allen did as he was told told, closing his eyes and placing his hand in Deak's. It was almost immediately that Allen felt a cool gust of air blowing against him, feeling like it encased him in a cocoon of wind. The silver haired boy would have opened his eyes in shock at that point, but found that he could not.

It was almost as if he was asleep and could not physically move any part of his body. Panic quickly set in once he realized that, but it was only able to last a few seconds more before the feeling receded along with his inability to move. As soon as Allen was aware of being able to move, he opened his eyes wide, not intent on seeing anything in particular, but just seeing.

The sight he was met with was an unexpected one that he thought he should probably get used to when traveling with Deak. A pure white scene that one would have been right at home in heaven. He and Deak were standing, it appeared, in another world that was made up of white blankness as far as the eye could see except for a small ivory temple a while off from where they stood. The steps leading up to the temple, however, were so close that Allen could trip over them if he took too big of a step forward.

As if reading his mind, Deak's hand took hold of Allen's elbow and he slowly led the other boy forward. Even as they got closer to the temple, climbing up the stairs to get to it, nothing ever came into view behind it; it was just an endless sea of white. Allen was so confused by what had happened that he didn't even register when the couple arrived in front of the doors of the ivory structure.

Deak raised his hand and knocked soundly, waiting until the doors were opened before pulling Allen through them. The interior looked far more different than the exterior, Allen noted. The inside had a similar color scheme as the outside with the main two colors being ivory and gold. There seemed to be several doorways in the hexagonal room which were all closed, but presumably led to other rooms. The apparent size of the place was far larger than the outside would suggest, looking outwardly like it had only one room that is kind of large, but not big enough for thirty people to fit in. What it ended up being slightly less than a great hall with a network of rooms connected to it by doors.

The hall was almost completely empty. There was a three tier fountain pressed up against one of the walls. It was a medium fountain the same ivory coloring as everything else, although this also had some black marble mixed in with the material. Deak strode up to the closest door and knocked again, waiting for less than a second before it flew open.

Out of the doorway came a very pretty woman who looked to be in her early to mid twenties. Allen could tell by just looking at her that she was rather pretty even though he also knew by looking at her that her features were dull without anything about her really standing out. She wasn't like Deak who was truly stunning with his vibrantly colored hair and eyes, they were so alive especially for his age.

He honestly didn't know why he felt she was attractive, but attributed it to some kind of magic. She had her hair done up tied by ribbons into two buns on either side of her head in a chinese style. Likewise, her outfit was a blue robe in the same style.

 _What is with demons and asian fashion?_ Allen thought, incredulously, remembering his own similar yet vastly different wedding robe that his own demon had chosen for him.

Deak turned back to his fiancé. "This woman and a few others are going to get you ready for the ceremony. Please do not argue or fight them; you'll need to go through a ritual cleansing before the ceremony." Deak snickered watching the curious and confused look on Allen's face morph into something more repulsed upon hearing him talk about a ritual cleansing.

"It is not as bad as it sounds. Really." The redhead placated before stepping up to the shorter boy. "I will be going through my own, as well, though we must be separated for the process." Placing a warm hand on top of Allen's neat white haired, he leaned down to kiss his partner's forehead.

Slowly pulling back, Deak walked past Allen to stand behind him where Allen couldn't see him. "We must part now, but I will see you again when the ceremony starts. Until then, I will miss you greatly, my love."

Allen turned around to look at his fiancé with a speed that he had not known he had possessed. However, when he looked to where Deak should have been standing, the demon was gone. The silver eyed boy was given no time to think about his green eyed companion as he was, upon the other's departure, immediately accosted by the woman Deak had summoned and three others, as well.

They gently ushered him into another room across them. The room was unlike anything he had been expecting. It was another ivory themed room, but now with beautiful blues and greens taking up most of the coloring. There was a large hole in the ground that was rimmed with granite, like the fountain outside it, and was filled with water. The water in its interior was unnaturally sparkling clean as if it can come from the most pure stream.

There were few accessories around this particular room such as three wooden buckets with accompanying scrub brushes, towels and an apparent assortment of soaps and oils. It was a bathhouse, Allen realized. He had, of course, heard of them. He had heard of lots of things, but that didn't mean he'd experienced any of them before. Seemingly, Harry was expected to bathe in this incredibly large bathing hole.

It was only the sight of some stairs and a flattened area to sit on carved into the interior that kept Allen from panicking as he had only ever swam in shallow rivers before and that had not been particularly often. It was understandable that he would be apprehensive about getting into water especially in an unfamiliar situation and environment. He did think, however, that he could brave his fears with stairs to help him step safely inside and a raised seat to ensure he didn't drown.

Allen looked at the three women (demons?) expectantly, waiting for them to leave so he could undress and cautiously climb into the bath. The problem? The ladies weren't leaving. On the contrary, they walked closer to him and began taking his clothes off for him.

"W-What are you doing?!" Allen cried, embarrassed. He flinched violently when the women continued to remove the clothing from his person, but didn't struggle; he didn't wish to accidentally hit one of them.

Not paying any mind to the boy's discomfort, the possibly demonic women ushered him towards the water, disrobing his along the way until he was in nothing but his undergarments. Thankfully, they left those on and he was pushed into the water and into a sitting position on the interior stone seating.

What followed was perhaps the most relaxing experience of his life as the women each took a different part of his body and began to work away at it. One of them crawled into the bath with him (her robes still on) and gently grabbed one of his feet. Two of the other women took each of his hands, sitting on either side of his body. The last positioned herself sitting on her knees behind his head.

The woman in the water at his feet began to slowly but strongly massage the one she had in her hands. Though she did so in a soft way, which attested to her consideration of him and his comfort, there was also an underlying strength to the pressure she used on his feet that also showed she had a wealth of strength that she was holding back from using. Allen thought that this could be evidence that she was a demon, as well. Her appearance would give away none of her apparent strength and he did know that demons had more strength than humans.

The women that had each of his hand were massaging them as well, the movements making Allen stiffen at first, but relax after a few moments. The white haired boy had had no idea that having his hands rubbed could be so pleasurable. They also seemed to be rather careful with him as if to make sure he didn't break.

The last woman, who had stationed herself behind his head, had taken up the boy's hair while he had been distracted by the other women. She managed to bunch up his very short hair and used a small clay bowl to scoop water out of the bath and pour it over his hair, wetting it. After that, she put some of the oil on her hands and ran it through his hair before and let it sit before washing it out with more water. She then towel dried his hair with the utmost care.

By the end of his bath treatment, Allen's body was feeling pleasantly numb and his hair was shiny and soft. After all this, the boy was once again pulled out and ushered away by the women although this time they did so at a more leisurely pace. Allen felt and heard more than saw himself be lead out of the room and into another one almost took relaxed from his earlier experience to be nervous about what was going to happen next.

Almost.


	13. Ceremonial Part 2

He had never felt more clean. This was the thought that passed through his head as Allen stared at himself in a mirror. Even with his low self-esteem, the boy felt stunned by how good he looked. If he hadn't known he was looking at himself, he might've even called the sight before him beautiful.

 _I hope Deak likes it._ Allen thought as he stared. But, really, how could he not like it?

His hair was usually unnaturally white, but it was also normally littered with dirt. Now, it was washed clean, silky soft and smelled strongly of a pleasant scent and Allen had no idea what that was. Aside from his hair, his eyes (which were usually a dull, misty gray) were brought to life with an excitement foreign to the young boy. It had a way of lighting up his features.

Allen's skin had been viciously (but, somehow, still carefully) scrubbed of dirt and imperfections before being lathered in oils until he positively glowed. Any scratches or callouses that plagued Allen's flesh had been erased from existence, leaving no evidence of their existence, as if by magic. Considering these women were demons, he wouldn't rule that theory out.

At some point, the women poured milk over part of his body including his arms, legs and face. Allen did not know how to feel about that. On the one hand, it was probably one of the stranger things that he had experienced in his life thus far and seemed to incorporate the least amount of sense. On the other, however, it was really quite refreshing and left Allen's overall being feeling eerily lighter. And he would swear that it left the skin on his face incredibly softer. Huh.

His newly cleaned and scrubbed hands and feet had been covered in symbols hand drawn by the three women in black ink. On his feet were the drawings of several blooming flowers, appearing so real as if they were truly opening up their petals to take in sunlight. The whole process made him jumpy and uncomfortable and he desperately hoped that Deak would have told him if these drawings were to become a permanent feature of his body. Yet, even he had to admit to being able to appreciate the strange and abnormal beauty that the drawings gave him.

The designs on his hands were even more impressive as they wrapped around his wrists and some of his fingers. His wrists looked like they had elegant cuff bracelets wrapped around them with a chain attached to it trailing up the middle of the back of his hand up to his middle finger where it wrapped around that, imitating a thick, detailed ring. This was easily the detailed work of a master.

He'd been dressed in his pure white wedding robes that Deak had bought him previously. It looked just as stunning as it did when they had bought it and Allen now wore a pair of matching velvet shoes. He wasn't sure where they came from, but, by this time, he did not feel like arguing.

Now that Allen was clean, his white hair and smooth skin complimented the robe well and left Allen feeling almost angelic. Angelic? Allen shook his head at his own thoughts. Being around Deak had been doing wonders for his self-esteem, but Allen wanted to make certain he did not let the attention go to his head and affect his judgement.

The women, calmer and more gentle than before, seemed to know that he was now done looking in the mirror. Coming forward from where they had pulled back to quietly watch him, they led Allen out of the room and back to the main one he started in. Without being given time to react or move away, Allen saw a blindfold be pulled over his eyes and, after he could no longer see, felt something soft and fragile be place into his hands.

 _What's happening now?_ Allen thought, tiredly but with a burgeoning sense of nervousness.

Feeling hands gripping his upper arms, Allen was led forward by women both in front of and behind him. He walked for what felt like an eternity, mostly feeling like he was walking on nothing with odd moments of surprise when he felt his steps land on something. When that happened, it was a brief moment of touching something solid and hard as stone before returning to nothingness.

After an unknown amount of time, Allen began to walk on somewhat solid ground permanently. It shifted slightly under his feet, but held firm, all the same. He felt the consistency of dirt be kicked out of his path by his feet accompanied by the sound of twigs snapping. This finally alerted the silvery haired boy to the fact that he was, once again, traipsing through the forest.

While blindfolded, the boy's senses had become heightened. Not to an incredible degree, however the sounds and feelings he experienced here were stronger than when he could see. His interest in his body's experiences were one of the things that lead to him nearly having a heart attack from shock when his hand was grabbed and held by another one.

Heat seeped into his palm from the other one pressed against it. This hand was stronger and clutched his delicately but firmly. He knew this hand, he'd held it plenty of times by now to know it even without his sight. Deak.

All nervousness and excitement fled the younger boy's being upon becoming away of the presence of his soon-to-be husband. A smile immediately spread across his face. It was not a small smile, either. His lips formed a giant grin. Allen could feel the excitement well upon inside of him.

This was the moment. The one he had been waiting for all day and building up to since Deak had first proposed. He would become married to the first person who ever treated him like he was worth something. This person treated him like something precious to be coveted and treasured.

He may not be deep in love with Deak, but that was in the future for them, Allen could tell. He was already beginning to harbor loving feelings for the older man and those would no doubt grow into true love. He'd become attached to the man and could no longer imagine his life without him. This was not just through fear of returning back to his dreary existence as a shunned recluse in a small town, but because this person was special.

He grounded him and made him feel smart. They could talk about anything and, while Deak was so very clearly smarter, more learned and well traveled than him, Allen never felt stupid more asking questions or voicing his opinion, not anymore.

That presence by his side. To lose it would be terrible. He'd thought he would be more nervous to be married when it came time for the ceremony, but there was only excitement. Excitement for what was to come.

The tugging of the material over his eyes told Allen that the [demons?] that brought them both here, wherever this was, were removing the blindfolds. Light immediately assaulted the young boy's retinas in a brutal fashion he hadn't expected. His eyes snapped closed in pain and waited for the burning sensation to abate.

After the unpleasant feeling left, the boy slowly, cautiously opened his eyes to the world. The sight that greeted him was not unlike the forest be and his fiancé had tromped through on their way here, but was, nonetheless, very aesthetically different. Far more pleasing to look (or stare at) to an ethereal level, this forest was colored in muted colors from the brown of the dirt to the green of the tree's leaves. The vibrant but still somehow darker and less shocking tones were intriguing to the eye and made one not wish to blink for fear of losing this view.

After getting his fill of the distracting sight, Allen turned his gaze beside him to the owner of the warm hand holding his own. The person he saw made him wonder even more how this man could be his. As always, Deak looked rather handsome. Though he did not have the chiseled body and aristocratic facial features nor the pale skin tone that seemed to define attractive men to a lot of people, but none could deny he had how own attraction, untraditional though it may be.

His bright red hair, an almost universal indication of peasantry and low breeding became more of an asset with the way he wore the color. This was likely due in no small part to his brilliant green eye color which greatly complimented his fiery red hair color. He wore a silk robe not unlike Allen's in its style and cut, but it was a pitch black color with strange pink flower petals along the bottom edge. His sleeves were long and flowing, like Allen's, but cut off sharply at the end in an almost diamond like shape.

Dragging his eyes down Deak's form directed Allen's eyes to the crushable substance still clutched in his hands. A bouquet. They were made of the purple blue flowers they had picked earlier during the trip. Huh.

"They're delphinium." Deak's voice spoke after seeing him become interested in the bouquet, drawing Allen's gaze up to him. The voice sounded like music to Allen and sent a small shock to his system. It felt like so long since he'd heard that voice or any voice for that matter.

"This is what we needed them for?" Allen asked, curiously. Even his own voice sounded foreign to him.

Deak nodded his head while wearing his usual happy smile. "Do you know what they mean? For a demon wedding ritual, there needs to be certain elements part of the ceremony with special meanings and energy necessary for the ritual to work to perfection. We are binding our souls together. It is very similar to the weddings humans have, but is far more binding and potent as it is imbibed with strong magic."

Allen stare at the dark blue flowers in his hands, seeing them in a new light. His heart warmed with appreciation.

 _Thank you._ Allen thought to them. _For being here to help me get married to a wonderful demon._

Had this been any other time, the silver haired boy might have felt stupid for talking to flowers in his head. As it was, he could not care less.

"What do Delphiniums mean?" Allen asked, softly.

"Protection from danger, positivity and being open to new romantic relationships." Deak spoke in a soft, slightly serious voice.

Leaning over Allen, making their difference in height even more obvious, he deftly plucked one of the flowers from the bouquet. Delicately, Deak twirled the flower into his partner's pure white hair, pulling back and admiring the darkly colored flower in the white expanse. "Keep it and it shall protect you."

"Your robing, as well." Deak continued after an intense moment of silence. "The silk material of both of our robes is a promise from me to you. A promise that I will take care of you and provide for you. In addition to that, in Asia, wearing robes with embroidered cranes symbolizes purity and fidelity for the length of a marriage."

Allen felt tears prickle at his eyes. Slightly ashamed of his emotional reaction, the silver haired boy pinned his gaze to the ground in front of him. There, he finally noticed the now very familiar sight of runes drawn into the dirt.

"Demons need symbols to channel their magic." Deak explained, noticing where Allen's attention had drifted to.

"These 'symbols' are the drawings you make in the ground, are they not?" Allen asked, interested.

"Yes, but they do not have to be." Seeing Allen's confused face after his pause, the redheaded demon continued. "The symbol can be an item or object that contains magical energy; is imbued with a magical presence. If an item has a special meaning behind it, understanding that meaning can, almost subconsciously, feed off of the magic of the person wielding it. It is such with the flowers, knowing that they have the magical ability to enforce protection makes the power stronger."

"Magical presence?" Allen asked, looking down at his silken robes. "Like a physical promise?"

"Like a physical promise." Deak replied after a short moment, smiling at his bride . . . groom . . . whatever.

They stood, appreciating the moment when a pair of veils were draped over their eyes. The veils were not so thick that they could not be seen through to a decent amount, but they did understandably impair vision. Looking through the veil, which Allen noticed was the one with flowers embroidered on it, he saw Deak looking through his own black tinted veil.

The female demons formed a loose circle around the symbol on the ground, so slowly and unobtrusively that they almost went unnoticed by the pair looking at one another through their veils. Even without being told what he should be doing, Allen slowly moved towards the center of the drawn rune. It felt like an invisible force was pulling him, drawing him towards the circle causing him to steadily gravitate into position.

He might have been scared. Might have tried to fight it, but he just felt so sure, so right with the action. Eyes drifting to the side, Allen saw that Deak was doing the same, green eyes locked onto the circle like a warrior preparing to meet his fate.

The two figures stood in the runic drawing facing each other with about six inches of space between them. The demons around them began chanting in an old sounding language that Allen couldn't understand. Although, he observed, Deak seemed to understand whatever was being said just fine.

A kind of energy arose around the perimeter of the drawing, blowing at them like a strong wind. Swiftly approaching them, one of the women produced a light blue silk scarf and held it between them. Each boy lifted one of their arms and they held them out to each other. The skin from their wrists up until half way up their arms were pressed against the other's arm.

Allen found his thoughts and emotions abnormally dulled throughout this process. Perhaps this was why he did not freak out or overreact about the way that his body seemed to act on its own. Not that he found himself without control of his bodily functions or anything like that. Instead, it seemed more that his actions and movements were egged on by an invisible force that had some way of convincing him to make these movements of his own accord; like strong suggestions. The demon with the silk tie wasted not a second after they were in position before winding it around their joined arms, effectively tying that part of them together.

"What is she doing?" Allen heard himself ask, his voice whispery and barely audible. He was afraid of breaking the silence. Perhaps this was because the silence (barring the light chanting in the background) was its usual oppressive self or, perhaps, more so, because he didn't know if his speaking would disrupt the ritual or counteract whatever spell they were casting.

It was apparent that his fears were unfounded as Deak breezily answered even as his attention and serious mind was on the ritual around him. "She is tying our arms together as part of the ceremony. Traditionally, brides gain something blue as a gift from a member of their family that had been married previously. The blue item is supposed to symbolize purity, fidelity and love. Since you haven't any known family members that can gift that to you, the ritual demons take it upon themselves to include it in the ritual."

"But why is the tying part of the ritual?" Allen asked, impatiently.

"It is another promise between us. By allowing ourselves to be bound together, we are making a binding agreement to devote ourselves to each other. It is important that your right hand is bound to my left because,as the one who asked you to wed me, I would be the one who needs my dominant hand, historically speaking.

It was said that the groom had need of his right hand to fend off suitors after his bride."

Allen blushed heavily at this and valiantly endeavored to fight it down. "That is unnecessary. None would fight you for me . . . " The deadpan voice displayed well what Allen was feeling.

"Do not say such a thing!" Deak growled out, sternly.

For the first time since the ritual began, the redheaded demon took his primary attention away from the ritual proceedings and directed it at his partner. "Just because most cannot see your virtue does not mean you have none and it most certainly does not mean that I will become complacent with the thought that none will try to thieve you from me, that may leave me open to attack. Besides that bit of unpleasantness, it has also become my job, since we met, to protect you and I will not allow myself to ignore a threat no matter what form it may take."

This time, Allen did not even try to hide his tears as they spilled from his eyes and flowed down his cheeks. Treasured. He felt treasured. Loved. Deak rubbed the tear tracks from his face in languid strokes. There was an intense look on the redhead's face as his eyes locked with the shorter boy's.

"Why purity?" Allen asked, suddenly, getting surprised blinking from Deak.

He had been searching mentally for a distraction and that was the thought that came up. He noticed that both the blue ribbon currently wrapped around their arms and the cranes embroidered on his wedding robe held symbolic meanings of purity. With that realization came the question of why.

"Hm?" The absent yet surprised response from the man across from him. Apparently, Deak had been caught off guard and didn't understand the question initially. In keeping with the demon's obvious intelligence, however, his features soon brightened with understanding.

"It is a form of protection." Deak explained, directly. Now that the topic had been broached, though, Allen wasn't going to let it go at that.

"Purity and protection do not sound like they match up well." Allen stated.

"But they do match up well." Deak responded. "They are almost the same thing. A being saturated in purity will find they have a more innate protection from dark beings. If you were to interact with many items that symbolize purity then harmful creatures will have a hard time harming you."

"Why would they want to harm me?" The silver haired boy felt he should ask.

In response, Deak gave him a sulky, strained smile and retorted, "You speak as if they are certain to need a reason".

The younger boy was kept from making any further inquiries by the female demon that still stood between them, speaking up for the first time outside of the chanting. It was still in that peculiar language that Allen did not understand, so he was grateful that she possibly knew that and chose to speak directly to Deak. After listening to her for a moment, Deak nodded his head to the demon in agreement and turned back to his companion after the other demon stepped back a few paces.

"Well?" Allen queried, unable to wait for long. "I've been informed that it has come time for the next part of the ritual." Deak said.

"Which is . . ?" Allen asked, trying not to sound impatient.

"I must find you."

 _Another concise and ambiguous answer_ , Allen thought. _I'm beginning to think he is doing this on purpose._

"Find me?" The silver haired boy, prodded. "When I am standing before you?" Deak huffed out a chuckle. So he was enjoying this.

"You will not be by the time I need to look for you." Seeing the look adorning Allen's face, the green eyed demon chose to hastily continue of his own volition. "It is part of the binding of our souls. You remember that I mentioned something about how, after the ceremony, we will be one with each other? You die when I die and vise versa?" Allen nodded in the affirmative.

"Allowing our arms to be bound together and promising to devote ourselves to each other opened that connection. It began the flow of your of your life energy to mine. Right now, it is only a small trickle of a connection. To get it to where it should be, it needs to immediately be forced into heavy use and built up like a muscle."

Now, Allen's stormy grey eyes lit up with intrigue as well as confusion. "Heavy use happens how?" Allen asked, though he felt he might already know.

"I can feel your presence in the back of my mind now and forever more. That is an example of a light use of the link. All else we are capable of is heavy use. Some things our connection is capable of are feeling the sensations or pain the other feels, an extension of the eventuality of one partner dying after the other.

We are also able to feel each other's feelings, although, if felt at all, they are usually ghosts of the original emotion; weak and lacking in strength. That is, unless the emotions are so strong that it cannot be muted, such as acute anger or terror. Now," Deak continued.

"To open up the channel for use, I need to use the ability to feel you in the back of my mind to find your location. By forcing it into use quickly, we will be able to drastically lower the mental separation. Do not try to hide, but do not make it easy to locate you, either. I need to find you on my own using our mental tie, without any external help, or it may not work."

Allen just stood there staring at Dak, trying to understand what was being said. There was so much information being aimed at him and he was unsure of how to deal with it. Despite what his life has been lately, he has not had a lot of experience with change.

He was already in an unfamiliar location, taking part in a foreign ritual. The only way he had been able to deal with the stress prior to this moment was the relaxing bath he had had beforehand and the knowledge that Deak would be there to take charge and walk his through the process. Now, he was being told that he had an important job to do in all of this besides just being there and, on top of that, that he would be alone for it.

Deak must have seen the panic flashing in his silver colored eyes because the older man put both his hands on Allen's shoulders. Distractedly, the boy wondered when their arms had been untied and how he had not noticed.

"It is easy." Deak stated in a soothing voice, drawing Allen's wandering attention back to him. "You need do nothing besides wander a ways into the forest and await my arrival, you need not go far. Is that alright?"

Deak's beautiful green eyes peered at him, worriedly. Using the strength he had gained from his man's mere presence, Allen drew up his resolve and his courage. The nod he gave to the demon before him brought to the man's lips another of his breathtaking smiles, promptly rewarding Allen's efforts.

"Now, go, before I ask you to stay." Deak said, softly, lovingly. "And be careful. As the bond begins to be used, it may cause us both to have moments of disorientation and dizziness. It may be dangerous if either or both hit at a bad time, so stay in a safe area."

With one kiss to the spot between Allen's eyes, Deak gently turned Allen around so that his back was to the redheaded demon and gave the boy a light shove forward.

Drawing in a deep, steadying breath, Allen marched forward towards the thicket of trees. He determined not to look back because he knew he really would not be able to leave Deak behind if he looked back. So he didn't. He steadfastly walked forwards, towards the trees, and disappearing inside.

Half an hour later found Allen still walking about the forest. Allen had been walking along the woods for a while. At first, he had stopped quickly but at a good distance in and tried waiting for Deak. His mind, however, as well as the rest of him, was restless and he had not lasted long before he felt the need to get back up and start walking again.

A rustling in the branches across from him caused Allen to promptly stop and peer over at the disturbance, trying to see what it was. The branches gave another, more violent, shake and then they went still and did not move again. After a long moment of staring at the motionless area, Allen continued on his path, the boy's mind still on what had been shaking those trees.

He was so caught up in his wonderings that he hadn't even noticed where he was wandering. Finally stopping when he came near a cliff, Allen looked around, vacantly, for a good direction to head in next. Abruptly, Allen's vision began to shake intensely before settling into a fuzzy, hazy version of what it was before.

His head tingled unpleasantly and he felt the need to look around to get his bearings, but, the more he did this, the more confused his sight (and, to an extent, his mind) got. Allen knew clearly what this was. Deak was right about the link opening between them from which Allen could sometimes sense spikes of feelings letting him know how far or close Deak is at the moment. True to his word, the link had caused several bouts of dizziness and disorientation during his journey through the forest. Stumbling back to press himself against a tree, Allen tried to wait out the swaying of his vision.

That's when he felt it.

Beneath the daze he was in, Allen felt the pang of feeling that let him know Deak's location. It was a strong feeling; Deak was close, very close. Allen tried to stand up from the tree and lift his head to check if he could see Deak in front of him at a distance.

This seemed to be too much too soon, however.

His eyes crossed, his vision blurred, and the ground felt unstable under his feet. The boy's mind and body were so confused that he didn't notice when he stumbled and staggered dangerously close to the nearby cliff. Unable to catch himself, he tipped over to the side, off the edge of the cliff. As Allen finally snapped his mind out of its stupor, it was too late, and he watched as the last bit of stable ground he had slipped from under his feet and fell away.

* * *

 **I promise, in the next chapter, I will get to why Lavi's name is Deak in this fic.**


	14. To Be Wed

His head was pounding now. The silver haired boy squeezed his eyes shut under the combined influence of the painful pressure on his brain and the fear coursing through his veins.

 _Is this really it?_ Allen thought, with an internal sob. _After everything life has thrown at me? After all of the hunger and alienation; all of my struggles?_

 _I finally found someone who needed me; who wanted me . . . someone I can love and . . . this happens? My life ends just as it begins? Why do all the bad things always happen to me?_

This was the first time the boy could remember allowing himself to lament and become bitter over his lot in life. Now he was falling away with everything he ever wanting right in front of him getting farther and farther away.

 _Deak . . ._ Allen thought, at last. His last thought before he prepared himself for the feeling of slamming harshly into the ground before being plunged irrevocably into darkness.

Pressure on his hand. Another hand tightly clutching his, bringing his fall to an abrupt stop. The sudden halt jerked his arm, sending a shooting pain up to his shoulder. It wasn't enough pain to hint at there being any lasting damage to his arm, however.

There he hung off the cliff, feeling so incredibly like dead weight that it was comparable to the feeling of hanging while having a lead brick tied to his ankles. Allen wanted to open his eyes, wanted to see what was going on, but he couldn't. The sudden headache induced by the dizzyness and the fall was still too much for him and whenever he tried to pry his eyes open to any degree, they uncontrollably squeezed shut again.

While Allen was distracted by the various pains and sensations he was feeling, his savior slowly and gingerly pulled on his arm so that he was tugged closer to the top of the cliff. Apparently having gotten close enough for the person to lean forward and reach them, Allen felt another arm winding around his waist. Soon after found Allen being pulled against a firm, muscled chest, the arms holding him intimately to their owner.

The boy felt his muscles relax, safe in the knowledge of who this was. After he was carried a good distance from the cliff's edge, the young man felt himself be laid down on a soft patch of grass on the ground. Hand felt around his body and eventually rested against his forehead trying to ascertain how he was and check for injuries. Then the body stood up from their crouch and the sound of footsteps moving away.

Still feeling a lot of shock, fright and pain from his near death experience, all Allen could do to protest him leaving was to give a light moan. He then heard what he was sure was them chuckle under their breath and walk back. An affectionate hair ran through his hair a few times in response.

Comforted, the boy didn't give any protests this time when he was left alone, knowing Deak was not leaving him but going to get something that would help him. In the meantime, the boy, finally feeling safe, focused on relaxing his mind so he could rid himself of the headache sooner and be less of a burden for Deak when he returned. Slowly but surely, his dulled senses started sharpening and the pain in his head was waning.

He very soon heard the sound of footsteps running back to him followed by a piece of wet cloth being pressed against his forehead. Ah, so that was what he went to get. They crouched hurriedly yet gently next to him and began a cycle of rewetting the material and pressing it back to his forehead.

Deak must be worried about him. It was this thought that spurred him on to try to sit up. He struggled to do so, initially. At first, it was because of his own body not wanting to cooperate and then because of an insistent hand on his chest trying to keep the young boy reclining back.

"I am fine." Allen forced out, insistent that Deak let him up, at least a little bit. The words were mumbled slightly under his breath and mildly slurred, but they were intelligible.

After a moment's hesitation, the hand retracted from his chest and relocated to his back, providing support as he sat. Something hard and metallic feeling met his lips, causing Allen to automatically pry open his stiff lips. Water flowed into his mouth at a slow trickle so that the white haired boy did not choke. Even then, he still almost did choke and it took several minutes under Deak's care to graduate to chugging down the water and it was still a while longer before the boy had had enough.

Feeling strangely revitalized from mere water, Allen opened his eyes and kept them open for the first time since his near fall. Bright gray eyes immediately met fearfully worried green ones. Deak was on his knees right beside his partner, peering over at him, as if asking if he were alright.

"I am fine." Allen repeated, at a loss of what else he could say to ease his partner's tension.

"I should have been there for you." Deak spoke, his voice strained. "When I saw you from a distance, I was already feeling your pain and panic. I was so afraid I . . . I should have been there for you!" The demon stated, forcefully.

Allen didn't like seeing him like this; Deak looked best excited and happy. Deak had always done his best to support him, so now Allen was going to do his best to support Deak.

"Were you looking for me?" The boy asked quietly, looking up at his partner.

"What?" Deak asked, sounding shocked and looking down at him with wide, green eyes.

"I asked if you were looking for me." The smaller one said again, his gaze never wavering from the other.

"Of course I was! I did not take a moment's pause in my search since starting it!" The redhead impressed emphatically.

"Then there was nothing better you could have done. You could have found me no sooner nor have helped me any more than you did." These were, Allen pondered, probably the most thoughtful. Wise words he had ever spoken. This was just another change his wonderful demon had brought out in him.

In response to his words, Deak remained silent and seemed to contemplate this. Allen gave him his time without obstruction; he knew Deak needed to think at his own pace. When Allen became sure that he had spent half an hour patiently laying on the ground while Deak thought, the boy finally found the other's green eyed gaze back on him.

"I hate to ask, Al." Deak spoke quietly and sincerely. "But are you able to finish the wedding ceremony? It needs to be finished before the end of the day. Can you get up?"

Giving a firm nod in the affirmative, the boy placed his hand on Deak's shoulder for support. Using the other man's shoulder as leverage, Allen slowly brought himself up from the ground to his feet. Slowly, so as to not upset the boy's balance, Deak rose from his squat.

Once Allen felt he could stand on his own without stumbling, he pulled away slightly. Showing a surprising need for comfort, the redhead immediately reached over to his partner and wrapped the other's hand tightly in his own. Allen was comforted by the physical comfort and, together, they walked back to the runic circle that they had started in.

The second the pair back into the circle, it lit up with a brilliant white light before fading out again. Allen could sense the immediate change that this peculiar reaction had. The hum of Deak's resting emotions whirred to life in the back of his mind. His love was not feeling anything truly overbearingly strong, but instead simple, light emotions of the kind he hadn't been able to sense before.

It was a strange and foreign presence, but also comforting; it felt like there was a piece of his love always with him. As if it were impossible for him to be alone. A very nice idea, considering Allen's loneliness before Deak came into his life. Deak didn't seem to be experiencing as big a change as he was, possibly indicating that the feeling had already been similarly strong for him.

"Now, we put on our rings." Deak stated after a glance at the female demons, who had presumably been waiting at the runic circle for the couple to return the entire time.

Just as striking as when Allen had first seen it, the ring that was produced then felt, to the boy, like seeing an old friend after a long time. "Do you know why this ring was perfect from the second I laid eyes on it?" The redhead queried.

"No." Allen stated honestly, eager to know the answer of this one.

"Then you also do not know what it is made of." After the slight shake of Allen's head, Deak continued. "The exterior is made of obsidian. It is a very . . . protective stone and is used, by those who know it, to ward off negativity. Good for protecting against attacks or abuse of any sort, helpful with both prevention and healing after the fact."

During this explanation, Allen was both awed and intrigued by this stone called obsidian. He also happened to notice that this was yet another item that was supposed to protect him, with the added benefit of seemingly being spiritually protective, as well. The boy was reintroduced to the warm, fuzzy feelings in his chest at the thought of how far the demon was going to make sure he was protected.

"Now, onto the interior." Deak said grandly, his arm making a sweeping motion. "The interior is encrusted with rose quartz. Its appearance is that of gentle pink colored blown glass and it is considered a crystal.

It has many meanings: peace, compassion, comfort, etc. All of its meanings are of the soft and loving variety. The most prominent of them and the one I first thought of when I first saw it is "unconditional love"; an apt description of my feelings for you."

More tears pricked at the edges of Allen's eyes. What had he ever done to deserve someone like this? Looking back in time, the young man could not believe that he had ever been unsure of their union.

The other man continued while he thought this. "The rubies in the stone are to increase energy and bring a sense of adventure to whomever wears it. You are going to need a good deal of both, being with me." Deak said jokingly, giving a small laugh and earning one from Allen. Then, the fond look on the red headed man's face intensified.

The demon returned his gaze to the ring and began gently running his finger over the darker, middle jewel of the ring. "This is a bloodstone. It has been used for thousands of years for its powerful healing properties; particularly, to detoxify and purify the body.

Despite the stone's rather ominous name, it has been said that the stone can bring love to any situation. Perhaps that is because of the stone's ability to purify and to "ground" negativity that people believe it brings forth love."

 _He put so much thought into this. He saw so much farther past the ring's price and beauty._ Allen could feel a little bit of guilt creep up now, feeling he had done little, if anything, in preparation of the ceremony while Deak did so much.

The boy jerked as a new thought hit him. "What about you? We never got a ring for you!" There was clear worry in his voice.

The first response he got from Deak was an amused chuckle. " A more straightforward design has already been prepared for me." As he said this, one of the demon females leant forward and dropped a small object into the palm of Deak's waiting hand.

It was a far less intricate ring, looking to be carved from one kind of red stone and with a medium sized emerald pressed into the middle. The ring was expensive and grand looking, a testament to the impressive wealth the demon apparently had, but was far less flashy than Allen's.

"My ring is carved from a garnet." Deak's voice stated. "Traditionally, the choice of ring for the 'bride' is up to the groom and can be anything from custom-made piece, to the exact same as the groom's own ring in every way.

The groom's ring, however, should only be one of the simplest designs. Carved from one gem with one single stone in the middle. The middle stone, emerald in this case, is intended to personally represent the groom. The material of the rest of the ring can be anything as long as its meanings properly represent the groom's feelings towards his bride."

". . . Why an emerald?" Allen eventually asked.

The green eyed demon smiled softly at his little love. "It is a sort of insurance . . . of a pleasant future. Emeralds represent prosperity (something you should always have with me) and living life to the fullest. It may also surprise people who know little about jewels or emeralds, but they also embody love."

"What of the rest of the ring?" Allen queried, interested.

"As I said before, tradition dictates that my ring be created from one gem. It can be of any gem, but it does need to show the wearer's feelings for their partner. Garnet tends to be the preferred gem because of this requirement.

Garnet has several translations, all meaning devotion to their lovers or loved ones. I feel that garnet is fitting. I will devote myself to you from this day until the end of time. I promise you this. Every time hereafter when your gaze falls upon the ring on my hand, you will remember this promise and will know that I never intend to break it."

This time, the words that his lover's words brought to his eyes spilled over and flowed down his cheeks in what was, for the shorter, en embarrassingly emotional display. He couldn't even bring himself to look up when the warm arms that he loved wrapped around him and drew him closer.

The boy also couldn't contain his automatic response of leaning into the touch and pressing his face into the chest in front of it. Deak had one hand on is lower back which held him firmly in place while the other hand was on his upper back. It occupied itself by rubbing soothing circles in the younger boy's back.

"We will always be together." Deak's comforting voice said. He seemed truly unperturbed by Allen's crying into his shirt; neither worried or annoyed.

It took a moment for Allen to get himself together, but Deak's presence helped and the boy was eventually able to pull back. "I am sorry." Allen felt he should apologize for his lack of control. He considered it a rather shameful act on his part and Deak was doing well putting up with his clinginess. The boy smiled happily, nonetheless, in the face of such acceptance.

"There is no need to apologize." Deak smiled in his usual manner. With one more rub to the boy's back, Deak also pulled away and raised his left hand to take the other boy's.

The redheaded demon's right hand took up Allen's ring while passing his own to his bride. He decided that instruction seemed to be necessary when the shorter of the two gained a look of surprise at being passed a ring. "I am to put your ring on your finger, myself. You do the same for me."

And then the surprise turned to panic. "B-But-" Allen stuttered, looking both like he wanted help and like he was afraid of asking for it. The latter seemed to override the former in the boy's mind. Misty gray eyes gazed up at his partner through his silver locks. "I-I don't know . . . where the ring goes."

Green eyes just stared back, uncomprehending, for a moment before laughing gayly and decided to explain before Allen got even more embarrassed.

"A wedding ring goes on the fourth finger of the left hand. It is believed that there is a vein in that finger that runs directly to the heart. That is why one attaches the ring (their lifeline to their love to it."

"Oh." Allen replied simply. _Well . . ._ He would definitely look different at _that_ finger now. Deak knew the most curious things . . .

"The rings?" Deak asked, reminding Allen of what they still needed to do.

"Right!" Allen cried excitedly, clutching Deak's hand in his. Deak chuckled deeply and allowed his lover to slip his ring into its proper place. Allen felt his ring slide smoothly onto the fourth finger of his left hand, the coldness of the material and overall weight feeling out of place for the young boy.

"And now for the second most important part of the ritual after the exchanging of rings." Deak announced grandly.

"What would that be?" Allen asked with a puzzled expression.

"You will recall," Deak started, using his teaching voice. "That I told you awhile ago we, demons, change our names habitually. Most notably, after important events in our lives."

Allen nodded thoughtfully. "I do remember your saying that you got your name from your grandfather after you met him."

"My current one, yes." Deak acknowledged. "He gave me this name in dedication of our habit of constantly traveling, when he became my companion. You must give me a new one now, at the beginning of our marriage."

"I give you your new name?" Allen asked, incredulously.

"Yes." Was Deak's simple reply. "Whatever you like."

"But . . . can you not just name yourself? What if you do not like what I choose?" Allen fretted.

"I am sure I will like any name chosen by you." Deak spoke calmly in the face of his husband's worry. When Allen still did not calm, Deak prodded. "It will be fine. Simply think of something."

Allen worriedly closed his eyes and tried to think of what kind of name could possibly define Deak. Yet, all he could think of was Deak; he could think of nothing else.

"What does Deak mean?" Allen finally asked, hoping the answer may prove pleasing enough so that they might keep the name.

Deak was confused by the sudden question, but answered anyway. "It is a Hungarian name for a teacher or scholar. It also means 'the one who leaves'. Both of these accentuated the trait that my grandfather and I valued at the time; constant travel and the gathering of information."

Allen thought about this explanation. He really did not want his love to stay with the name Deak if that was the name's meaning. He did not know what he would do if Deak suddenly left him and did not want to call him something that embodied that fear.

The young man wracked his brain, searching back through his memory for a title that would describe the man before him as well, if not better, than Deak ever did. Something with a much more comfortable meaning to Allen. On that track, the boy thought of something.

Allen remembered there was a time that Cross, the only person before Deak that had ever given any about him, had told him a story about one of his travels to India. If the (admittedly mental) man were to be believed, then he'd gone to India, where he drank a lot and mingled with high society.

Sometime during this, he met their princess's protector, a talented fighter by the name of Lavi. "A fitting name for a warrior," Cross had said. "Lavi means 'lion' in some language."

 _A warrior_. Allen pondered, looking to the red headed demon standing before him. Said demon was watching intently, green eyes as piercing as ever.

"How do you feel about Lavi?" The words pass through his lips almost unconsciously.

The second he heard what Allen had thought of, Deak latched onto the new name and began turning it over in his mind, inspecting it. After a little bit of what looked like intense thought, Deak's face lit up in another one of his brilliant smiles.

"That is a wonderful name, Al!" Dean complemented, inordinately pleased with the new title his lover gave him.

The boy being complemented quickly found his face flushed red. This was worsened by the smile his husband failed to hide. Belying his knowing smile, Deak - no, Lavi - acted as though he did not notice his partner's embarrassment and continued.

"From now on, I will be known as Lavi; the name my amazing husband gave me." The redhead announced grandly, earning an adoring look from his spouse.

And, with that, the ritual was over, the ceremony completed, and the two lovers were married. To celebrate their union, Lavi insisted on taking Allen somewhere nice, where they could peacefully soak up one another's presence. So , they found a narrow river and stretched out together along the bank.

The sound of the slowly trickling river sung to the two men, the sound unmarred by even fish breaking the surface. This, coupled with the warm feeling of his connection to Lavi humming in the back of his mind, had the silver eyes closing sleepily.

"Are you alright, Allen?" The boy heard Lavi's voice ask softly from beside him. In a rare moment, the demon used Allen's full name. It took the boy a little while to realize that Lavi was concerned that Allen was going to start having second thoughts about their relationship.

This conclusion was cemented by the slight gleam of worry in the demon's green orbs; one that he wouldn't have recognized if he hadn't spent so much time around him. Allowing himself to give a laugh at the uncharacteristic display of insecurity from the usually proud demon.

Deciding that the action would be alright because they were married now and also knowing that he would get embarrassed if he continued to think about it too much, Allen fluidly leaned forward and gave a light but loving kiss to his husband's cheek. The young man then brought his face down to nuzzle into the other man's neck.

This was apparently enough of an answer for Lavi. From his position, resting against the demon's neck, Allen could feel the tension leave his lover's body. He felt an arm slowly slip around his waist to hug him to the larger body while the other was placed on the back of his head. The fingers of that hand curled in his hair and gently pressed him more into the owner's neck.

Allen allowed it.

After what could have very well been several hours, not that either of them really cared about the time, Allen decided to break the silence. He still hadn't thanked Lavi properly for before, when he pulled him away from the cliff.

A small blush rose on the boy's cheeks as he thought of how his lack of verbal gratitude could have been construed. At least, how it could have been if Lavi wasn't such a kind and understanding person.

"I-I never did thank you for saving me. Not really." Allen spoke, his voice holding only a small amount of the timidity it usually had.

"It is fine, Al." Lavi responded. "I know how you feel without having to say it."

Still," Allen pressed. "I do not want to even think about what would have happened had you not come for me."

And it was true. The thought that he would not be alive right now sent a great shudder down his spine. The mere act of remembering his fall made Allen cringe. To think, the demon that he had been so wary of, not long ago, had been the only thing between him and . . . another shudder ran through his short body.

"I may have helped, but you are strong, Al. I am sure you would have been fine on your own, even if I had not shown up." Lavi replied, seemingly trying to soothe him.

Yet, Allen couldn't help but feel confusion at how nonchalant Lavi was being about it. "There was no way I could have survived that!" Allen cried under his breath, mindful of their close proximity. "I would have fallen off that cliff if you had not caught me!"

For a minute, all there was from either party was silence. The previously relaxing forest surrounding them only heightened the boy's awareness of the crushing silence.

When Lavi finally spoke, his voice was unusually, unnervingly quiet. "Allen, when I found you, you were already collapsed on the ground, away from the cliff. I thought you had caught you and caught yourself and gotten away on your own."

"What?" The question was asked in a breathy gasp, the only thing that was able to leave his mouth as a feeling of impending fear gripped him.

Allen waits for the ball to drop.

And then it fell.

"I did not save you." Lavi's voice whispered in Allen's ear, his arms encircling his younger partner in a protective embrace.

It helped little as Allen felt a cold, sharp dread taking root in the pit of his stomach, the icy grip of fear chilling his body for the first time in a long time.


	15. Away

There was a distinct lack of real conversation for the rest of the night. The both of them made an attempt at it, but the revelation they'd both had distracted their minds. They had been having such a good time before, Allen thought. But after they realized someone else had been there with them, any words that fell from either of their lips were lifeless and meaningless.

The silver haired boy couldn't keep himself from feeling disappointed with how their wedding night turned out. Soon after, they gave up on the idea of relaxing by the stream. Lavi took off into the forest with Allen trailing closely behind him. As per what had become their usual, the shorter boy followed his demon wherever he led with little to no question.

At some point during their walk, Lavi abruptly stopped walking and pulled Allen close, pressing the younger boy's face into his chest. One of the demon's hands was placed on his upper back, pressing him further into his chest while the other threaded into the boy's hair and comfortably gripped it.

From his position against his new husband, Allen felt him turning his head and upper body, systematically checking the forest. For what, he didn't know. They stood there for such a while that Allen yelped in surprise when the redhead's strong body suddenly jolted into movement. Surprise aside, Allen allowed himself to be levered down onto the ground without protest. Once his butt was firmly planted on the ground and his lover's hands left him, the boy crossed his legs and made himself comfortable.

The boy watched with almost detached fascination as his love drew one of his peculiar looking runes. The redheaded demon drew his rune around Allen with the silver haired boy sitting in the center. It wasn't gigantic, yet it was large enough for him to wriggle about in should he feel uncomfortable. There wasn't, however, enough room to lie down in.

The newly-dubbed Lavi was exuding an odd mixture of panic and fixation as he diligently continued on his task. He clearly wanted this rune to be effective as he pressed down harder when drawing in the dirt than Allen had seen him do before and retraced over the marks he had already made. Once done, Lavi drew back just enough to look at Allen's eyes, which had been watching him intently. Strong hands found their way to the young boy's shoulders, making certain that Allen's full attention was on him.

"I need to check the area." Lavi said, seriously. "I need you to stay here. I need you to not move."

"I won't leave you! Where are you going?" Allen's voice sounded every bit as panicked as he felt.

"Al, please!" Lavi pleads, sounding, for the first time, like he was well and truly desperate for something. Allen felt his heart wrench at the sight and found his mouth snapping shut in response.

"There's-" Lavi started somewhat breathlessly before cutting himself off. The demon pauses, simultaneously taking a big breath and swiping his bangs out of his eyes with his large hand.

"I think there is a great deal going on right now. I am just beginning to understand that and we will need to talk, but not now. The presence, for some reason, is hard for me to pick up on, but I do feel that someone is here with us. Regardless, I am worried, which is why I need you to stay here where you can be protected while I investigate the matter."

Throughout this speech, Allen felt the blood in his veins grow cold with the implications that his husband was making. However, at the insinuation that that he would allow his love (demon or not) to go off out of sight and face their stalker alone, he felt incensed. Before the redhead could say another word about the matter, Allen's mouth was open and he was speaking.

"I will go with you! I can help! Perhaps I can sneak up on them or cause a distraction - " His speech quickly picked up in speed as he went on, but Lavi cut him off before he could finish.

"Allen, no. Whoever . . . whatever . . . is out here could be dangerous." Allen got ready to rebut his argument again, but Lavi spoke over him, refusing to give him leeway in this conversation.

"I will not break my marriage vows to you so quickly after making them by failing to protect you." Intense green eyes bore into Allen's own, leaving them feeling pulverised by the stare. "I swear that I will come back here, to you. I will not allow anything to harm me when I have you awaiting my return."

"I could - "

"Honey, I would be too worried about protecting you to take care of the threat." Lavi spoke, calmly. "Please tell me you will stay here until I get back." He pressed, his eyes pleading to his younger lover.

Allen felt he could relax completely and sink into the ground staring into those eyes. "You will come back then?" Allen asked, seeking reassurance.

"I will." Lavi promised, determination shining in his emerald eyes. "You will merely have to wait here. I will try to be back quickly."

"Alright." Allen replied, hesitantly.

His sharp features sharpening, the demon motioned for the boy to lean closer, kissing Allen on the forehead when he did. After pulling back from his cute little kiss, the redhead explained how the rune he drew worked.

"It is," Lavi began. "To ward off bad energy. Only things that wish to do you harm will be unable to enter the circle. Stay in it and it should protect you." Lavi impressed upon his husband before giving his love a parting kiss and rising from his kneeling position on the ground.

His demon disappeared almost in the blink of the eye and Allen was left alone. The young boy stared at the spot where his lover stood moments ago before eventually averting his gaze to the surrounding forest. His eyes drifted from spot to spot hoping to catch a glimpse of something and, at the same time, wishing that wouldn't happen.

He didn't see or sense anything, but . . . then . . . he never noticed anything before, either. But Lavi had and whatever he sensed might not have been good. He was getting fidgety. He merely had to wait for his love to return and then he would learn what it is that has come here.

After all, what could be strong enough to take on a demon and win? He just had to try and relax while he waited. Just as Allen finished thinking this, a voice cried out to him from somewhere past the trees.

"Allen, run!"

 _That is Lavi's voice!_ The panicked thought followed upon hearing the voice. _But he told me not to leave . . ._

"Allen, go! They're more than I can handle! Run before they get to you!"

 _They? Who is "they"?_ Allen thought, hurriedly. _I should . . . what should I do? Should I do like Lavi says and run or should I go back and stand by him?_

Allen was feeling wildly conflicted as he wanted to do as his demon says, to make him happy, but didn't want to leave his love behind. The boy was at a crushing loss at what to do, but then he remembered something his husband had said earlier when he was loading Allen down with information.

He had stated that Allen wouldn't die as long as Lavi did not die. The demon took protecting Allen very seriously and couldn't be in too much trouble if risking his life would risk Allen's own. With this in mind, the silver haired young man got in a ready position and launched out of the rune and made a mad dash for where the river was.

He had no idea how to get out of the forest, but following the river should bring him to a town. He had been running for about thirty seconds before he noticed the foliage behind him rustling, accompanied by twigs being stepped upon and snapping. The boy continued to run, but the sound persisted after him and even seemed to speed up as he went on.

Whatever was out there was chasing him.

He had no idea what it was or even if he could outrun it, but he sped up, nonetheless. By this time, the sound of a body crashing along behind him was accompanied by a similar, smaller version coming up alongside him. Desperate to lose him pursuers, who sounded like they were closing in on him, Allen darted to the side to disappear into the trees there.

Before he could accomplish that, however, another body crashed into his back and sent own own body flying into one of the trees he had been running towards. Pain shot wildly through his body on impact and he couldn't get him arms to respond when he wanted to hold them out to break his fall as he fell back towards the ground.

The next impact when he hit the ground knocked the wind from his lungs. Again, his body didn't respond to him when he wanted to get up, move or do anything but lie there. Childlike giggles accompanied the darkness that ate away at his consciousness until Allen was gone.


	16. Demons

**This is kind of a big exposition chapter, but it had to be done. I tried to make it as entertaining as possible. The beginning of the next chapter will likely be more of the same, but then the action will kick in. The next chapter will also probably be longer, so enjoy, people!**

* * *

The first thing he became aware of was a pounding in his head. Forget painful, it was agonizing. Allen reached up to rub the back of his head gently, flinching whenever he felt a shock of pain. The sound of someone walking in the dirt beside him was what finally got Allen to peel his eyes open. Seeing the serenity of the forest above him didn't sit well with him at all. More shifting by his side caused his eyes to shift in the corresponding direction.

Standing tall, leaning against a tree and smoking a cigar, was a darkly tanned man with very dark (almost black) brown hair. His lips were curved into a smirk around the cigar, drawing special attention to the beauty mark sitting upon his cheek. When Allen opened his eyes, the strange man's were closed. However, as if feeling his gaze on them, the eyelids gracefully slid open to reveal chocolate brown eyes.

The piercing gaze bore into Allen. The two of them stared at each other for a few moments, one leaning against a tree and one laying on his back on a forest floor (A/N: How many of you have noticed my overuse of staring scenes and awkward silences in my fics?). Soon enough, Allen got restless and irritated, beginning to wriggling, trying to get up. Pain wracked his body the more he tried, pained cries pushed past his lips as he persisted.

A few minutes into it, a smooth voice started speaking. "You should probably stop moving. Sounds like you are in a great deal of pain." Of course, the voice came from the man who had been watching him.

The man sounded so blasé, so casual, that the guy instantly got on Allen's nerves. The boy grit his teeth tensely, stilling his movements just for a time. He had to ask, "What happened to me?"

There was a pause and then, "You were slammed into a tree at a bone-shattering speed."

"What did I shatter?" Allen promptly asked.

The man took the cigar out of his mouth and gave an infuriatingly calm shrug. "Nothing, maybe . . . or perhaps something. Does it feel like you shattered something?"

Yes, it did feel like he shattered something, but there was no way he would tell this guy that. Abruptly, a realization came to the boy causing his to jolt painfully. Where was Lavi? Was he okay? Was he hurt? Did these people catch him too? The questions came in rapid succession, the white haired boy becoming increasingly worried with each one. He had to find out what they wanted. What was their goal?

"What am I doing here?" Allen demanded weakly as he resumed his struggles to sit up.

"Well," The man started in a storytelling voice. "We were trying to catch you -"

"Why were you trying to catch me?" Allen cut in, earning a scathing glare from the other man.

"Look, brat, I'll answer your questions because I am nice and have nothing better to do right now, but if you continue to interrupt me, I will not bother." He took a break from speaking to see if Allen was going to push the issue.

When the brunette was satisfied that Allen was going to remain quiet for the moment, he continued. "You may call me Tyki and, if you have not already guessed it, I am a demon and so is my partner who you saw earlier."Allen sucked in a nervous breath, the precariousness of the situation bearing down on him.

When "Tyki" didn't promptly continue, Allen took the initiative. "I repeat," His voice sounded much more composed than he felt. "What am I doing here? . . . Where is Lavi? If you have done anything to him . . ." He really couldn't do anything threatening, but Allen felt anger rising in him at these people hurting his husband.

"Lavi?" Tyki parroted dumbly, his eyes widening slightly in curiosity, the cigar hanging limply from his mouth. "Am who might that be?"

"Don't. You know him, you were fighting him when he told me to run!" Allen cried out in frustration.

Tyki's eyes now lit up with understanding. "Boy, he did not call out to you. We did." To himself, Tyki mumbled, "So his new name is Lavi, huh? Does not sound nearly as tough as Deak, but it is not my decision, I suppose." This was all said so unceremoniously and Allen's mind swirled wildly with the information that was just so carelessly dumped upon him.

He had left the circle. He had left the circle Lavi had expressly asked him to stay inside, for his own protection. He had been tricked by these demons and they did it so easily. How could they mimic Lavi's voice like that? It was so . . .

Before his thought could continue, Tyki decided to start talking again. "As for Lavi, you were our primary concern at the time and we lost his location. My partner is currently working on locating him; she left me in charge of you after we got you." There was a deliberate pause before the demon continued. "After you woke up, I am supposed to take care of you, then rejoin her to take out Lavi together."

Allen's breath hitched, his body stiffening. Suddenly, his body felt cold, very cold. "W-What do you mean 'take care' of me?" He wished he could have kept the stutter out of his voice. He sounded so weak and he felt it, too. The boy knew the answer, thought he knew it, didn't know why he needed to hear it aloud.

"You have to die. I need to kill you, boy." The man, Tyki, stated coldly, dropping the cigar and crushing it under his shoe.

"'Have to'? Why would you 'have to' kill me?" Allen demanded, wary and frightened.

It is not that I want to. It is not personal." Tyki replied, almost sounding like he meant it. "It is not about you, but your mate."

"You want to hurt him." Allen stated in understanding.

"That is a mild way of putting it; we want to kill him. We have aimed to ever since the war."

"The war?" Allen questioned.

One of Tyki's brows quirked upwards. "Surely he told you?"

Allen needed a moment to remember before replying. "Yes, I believe he did. Between demons and humans?" Tyki merely nodded, encouraging Allen to continue. "He told me that it was his job to just watch and record the happenings of the war, but that he eventually ended up siding against humans." _And then he was trapped in a bottle for a hundred years._ Allen's mind continued.

"Yes. We had heard about that." Tyki readily agreed. "And we agree wholeheartedly with how he ended up siding in the war, but it is irrelevant now. We have had a bone to pick with him since long before he formally chose a side."

Tyki looked off into the distance, no longer focusing on Allen, his mind seemingly somewhere in the far past. "It was, indeed, his job to watch the war as a passive observer. So why, then, did he interfere with it long before he chose a side?"

"He interfered?" Allen asked. This was news to him.

"Rarely." Tyki answered. "One of these rare incidences just happened to include me and Road, my niece. It was his interference that caused my brother's death. Lavi would have had no chance of defeating all three of us, but we were not with him at the time. After finding out what happened . . ."

"What did happen?" Allen could not hold back from asking.

"Something about defending some human from Sheryll, my brother." Tyki replied dismissively, carelessly waving his hand.

"He defended a human?" Allen was truly surprised.

He knew that Lavi was kind or, at least, kind to him, but the way Lavi talked about himself before and during the war didn't make it sound like something he would have ever done. His demon spoke as if he would have been too uncaring to interfere, especially to protect a human from a demon.

"Unimportant." Tyki's voice said in reply to Allen's last question. "What matters is that Sheryll died and it was because of a demon, not a human, that had no business getting involved with it in the first place."

"We attacked Lavi after we found out, so that we might get out revenge. Of course, he had to be powerful to take out my brother, but we did not realize just how powerful he was. Even with the two of us against him, we could not kill him and he escaped. Here is where you make all the difference."

"How do I change anything?" A sense of foreboding began to settle in his stomach.

"By wedding him. It really does make all the difference." Tyki spoke conversationally, pacing in small little lines. "You see, something special happens during and after the ritual demons use to marry. Being the partner of a demon means you share-"

"- a life." Allen murmured, thoughtfully, his eyes widening as the implications of everything Lavi had told him about their bond sunk in. Now that they were married, they shared a life.

"Correct." Tyki actually looked surprised that Allen understood as much as he did about their bond. "Binding shares a soul; an existence. Once the binding happens, one cannot live without the other. It is one of the reasons that demons do not wed as frequently as humans."

"Because the moment a demon's partner dies," Tyki continued, his voice lowering with each word. "The demon starts to become sick, weak, and will inevitably die." Allen's heart stuttered and a cold sweat broke out on his face.

"You understand, don't you, boy?" There was an extra emotion underneath his uncaring one that sounded almost like remorse. It didn't matter, though. It wasn't enough.

"That you will have to die?"


	17. Cultivation

"We could not kill him, two against one, so the only other option is to weaken him enough to where he can no longer fight us off."

 _I'm going to be used as a weapon to kill my husband._ Allen felt numb, physically and emotionally as he sat there on the ground. In the place where he would probably die. He listened practically unconsciously to Tyki as the man continued speaking.

"I would personally prefer to just kill you and walk away from the whole thing. The bond you share will take care of Lavi on its own. Road, however, is as overly vindictive as ever. She insists that we merely use your death as a tool to weaken him enough to kill him ourselves."

The momentary strength in Allen's body simply left him then and he flopped down to lay on his back. He didn't bother to look at Tyki when he heard the man's footsteps in the dirt, casually stepping towards him.

The light skinned man next to him crouched down until he was more level with Allen's prone form. He calmly reached one of his hands up, wrapped his fingers gently but firmly around Allen's chin and turned the boy's head around so that they were both looking at each other.

"I prefer the people I kill to look at me when they die." The man's tone still sounded unsettlingly like he was complimenting a good book rather than talking about his preferences when killing someone.

"If you wanted me dead, why did you wait so long to do it? Did you just want to cause me more pain by rubbing it in?" Allen asked, quietly. Even to his own ears, his voice sounded defeated.

Tyki's eyes regarded him carefully before replying slowly. "In actuality, you were not intended to survive this long. Do you remember when Road slammed your body into a tree? When you sustained injury and passed out?"

Allen gave a shaky nod and waited.

"That was meant to kill you." Tyki stated. "It should have killed you. Slamming a human's head against a hard object with such force should have killed on contact. It would seem that binding yourself to a demon affected you, as well, making you slightly more durable and harder to kill than a normal human, but not nearly as much as a demon.

As to why I waited until you woke up instead of doing you in once I realized you were alive . . . it would be inconvenient if you were to survive again. This time, I need to make sure you are dead and that is best done when you are not unconscious. It is not like you can do anything hurt and Road is tracking Lavi."

Tyki's hand lightly combed through Allen's hair in a way that would have been comforting if it had been Lavi. "Also," There was that strange, soft tone again. "I figured that you deserve to know the reason for your death."

"I deserve to know that I am going to hurt the man I love?" Allen demanded with tears beginning to cloud his vision, aggression clear in his voice.

"That your death had a purpose." Tyki returned, fluidly. "That it is not for nothing." There it was, that almost-regret. Its presence gave Allen hope that maybe the man could be reasoned with.

"Please." Allen pleaded, hoping to reach something in the man. Pity, maybe. "Let me go. I will take Lavi. The both of us will go and the both of you will never see us again. This does not have to happen!"

"I see what you are doing, boy." Tyki spoke factually. "Do not waste your breath trying to talk me out of this, the choice is not mine anymore, and this has gone on long enough." Feeling he had said enough, Tyki reached into the folds of his clothing and pulled out a ritual knife.

"We put too much effort into getting to this point for you to not die now." Tyki clutched the knife in his hand and positioned it to hover over Allen's form.

Looking at the impassive face of the demon beside him and the knife held in his powerful hand, Allen knew what was coming. He could prepare for it, he could accept it. He didn't want it. No, of course not. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave Lavi and he most certainly did not want to contribute to Lavi's death, but there was nothing he could do.

He didn't know what kind of injuries he had sustained from the previous attack, but they were definitely painful and he was tired; physically and emotionally. He didn't have the energy to move and he could never have fended off a demon, anyway.

Allen closed his eyes and awaited his death. He thought he felt a pulling on his soul, but it was buried under the sadness and disappointment that his story was ending this way.

Something shifted above him. This was it. The piercing stab that resulted . . . . . . that should have resulted, never happened. Despite his crippling fear, Allen wrenched his eyes open. He was thinking that Tyki had decided last minute that he should be even more cruel and postpone Allen's death even further.

His eyes, though, didn't lock onto Tyki's face. He wasn't there. Despite the pain and shock he was currently in, Allen inclined his head to glance in front of himself. And there it was. The body was lying face down on the grass, his arms and legs spread out.

Somewhere, in the recesses of his mind, the boy wondered if he should roll Tyki over so that he doesn't inhale more grass and dirt than he already had, but he no longer had the strength to roll himself over much less someone else.

Someone was shaking him.

The sudden and yet very real realization hit him hard as Allen just now became aware of hands running gently over his body. Turning his head weakly, blue-gray eyes followed the hands flowing over him to the being crouched beside him. His vision was now filled with wild red hair and piercing, frightened green eyes.

"La-vi . . ." Allen forced out, the awareness that he wasn't going to die, that he was safe, bringing tears to his eyes and honestly choking him up.

"Allen! You are-! You are awake!" Lavi looked so relieved at that. "You are alright!" Just as the demon said it, one of his hands ran over a particular point in his side, must have been an especially sensitive piece of broken rib because touching it caused a sharp shock of paint to go through Allen's broken body and a pained gasp escaped his lips.

"Mostly alright . . ." Lavi amended in a laughing voice. "Do not worry, Al, you will be fine now. I will make certain of that." Lavi spoke, his voice growing slightly worried.

There were so many things Allen wanted to say as tears leaked from his eyes and slide down his cheeks. He wanted to say how happy he was to see Lavi. How relieved he was that he was here. How scared he had been. How, when he thought he was going to die, all he thought about was him and if he was going to be alright.

"But, instead, what came out of his mouth was, "Is he dead?" He was talking about Tyki, the demon that Lavi had taken out without Allen even noticing. His demon did not seem concerned about him, but Allen actually felt a little guilty. Tyki hadn't been the evil demon he imagined. He wasn't really a good person, either, but still a person.

"No." Lavi said, in a voice not unlike a growl. His eyes narrowed viciously in Tyki's direction before softening as they shifted back to Allen. "But I do not want to deal with him right now. I never want to, if that is an option. You are what is important now."

Allen's heart thudded loudly in his chest, hearing this. It would have felt like his heart was trying to break his ribs, if he wasn't certain that they already were. The silver haired boy hadn't even realized how quiet he was being until the whispered words from his husband came right by his ear.

"I was so worried about you."

A simple statement that meant so much.

"Why?" Allen didn't care if his question and tone made him sound more vulnerable, after the scare he had just had, he needed to know. Lavi seemed to realize that too, but he still tried to wheedle his way out of the moment.

"Al, this is hardly the time to-"

"This is exactly the time." Allen interrupted, unwilling to let it go.

Lavi gave a soft sigh of resignation and leaned into Allen's space until their faces were a mere inch apart. Allen suddenly found he couldn't focus on anything but the bright green eyes of his husband.

"I'm beginning to realize there are more reasons you are meant for me than freeing me from that bottle." Lavi said seriously, his boring into Allen's own, willing him to understand.

Allen did. They would have a long time to get to know each other better, but right now Allen knew everything he needed to know.

Lavi picked Allen up to carry him, as Allen was in no shape to walk on his own. Leaving Tyki on the ground, the two walked off to where Allen assumed the forest exit would be.

* * *

 **Sorry if I'm taking a while; finals, you understand.**


	18. Through the Doorway

The silence between the demon and his human was warm, if a silence could be warm, and comfortable.

Both could feel each others' consciousness humming in the back of their minds, a feeling they were just getting used to. If his studies on bonds were in any way truthful, then Lavi knew he would soon wonder how he had survived for so long without Allen by his side or his presence in his mind.

He'd often wondered during his imprisonment and a little while after being freed. He'd wondered about Bookman.

He had spent the last hundred years convinced that Bookman hated him in the end. How else could he, at the time, think of the partner who imprisoned him for a hundred years and cursed him to spend the rest of his life with a human once he was freed? Any proper human hating demon would be bitter about that and see it as an act of betrayal of the highest order.

Lavi would not say he changed completely during his time in the bottle, but the whole ordeal did have an affect on him. A hundred years, though just a small fraction of a demon's lifespan, allows a great deal of time to rethink and re-evaluate previous life choices. Rethink choices. Yes, he had ended up doing quite a bit of that.

It was hard to continue hating humans when you haven't seen one in decades and it was equally difficult to side with demons when there weren't any around. The war that had been prevalent for years no longer existed where he was. He was removed from it all and his anger could only last so long.

About ten years into his imprisonment, Lavi slowly stopped caring about his reasons for engaging in the war. It wouldn't be until about eighty years of imprisonment that he would completely disregard his previous motivations and truly leave behind his hatred of humans.

However, it would only take half the time before he was so desperate for companionship that he would have undoubtedly accepted the lowest dregs of humanity as his partner. Was it any wonder, then, that the demon was ecstatic upon finally being freed and coming face-to-face with his intended.

He'd been isolated for far too long to be picky, an especially poignant concept considering how solitary he had been when he still had the chance to socialize. He accepted Allen being forever by his side without question and without hesitation. Company was company, after all, and he would deal with whatever human was fated to be his.

When Allen took to avoiding him, he thought for sure that he was trapped with an exceptionally annoying human. Even after they had reconciled and Allen had agreed to give their bond a try, he was still not too attached to the boy.

That changed that day with the townsfolk. The way they talked to the boy . . . the way they treated him as if he were something less than human. He found himself angry for Allen, for the things he had probably gone through before Lavi had met him. He wanted to get Allen away from that place and the bad memories it held.

Lavi had been aware over the preceding days that his desire to protect and provide for his younger fiancé was not coming from the same place it had when they'd left the boy's hometown.

Some mysterious protective instinct he'd never felt before in all his days arose in him and it never abated. The more they ventured, the more they spoke, the more Lavi collected the items they needed for their bonding, the closer he grew to Allen. Not love, not yet. Then again, maybe it was love.

His adventures had shown him that love came in various forms. After all, just because he was not ready to profess his undying love to the boy didn't mean he couldn't see himself doing so in the future. He had to admit that there was some part of himself that already loved Allen. There had to be, because some of the actions he takes makes a lot more sense when one looks at it in that context.

For example, he had found himself comforting Allen during the ritual. Not just giving him the facts, but genuinely comforting him because he actually cared about Allen's comfort and security. Such a thing would have been unthinkable for the old him. Such sentimentality would have been seen as a waste of time for him before, without a doubt.

Letting Allen walk away from him into a wood unfamiliar to the boy had been agonizing. Even though it was a very necessary part of the ritual that would bring them closer together, he had still been severely tempted to forgo it all.

When he'd felt the pain and distress from his link to Allen and then when he was jumped by Road, he had been a basket case. He'd nearly burned her alive when she had taunted him about Allen's impending gruesome death.

The only thing that held him back from finishing the other demon off was the presence in the back of his mind, his link to Allen, that consistently reminded him that Allen was still alive. Even though her body was burned beyond all recognition when he'd left her, she would be good as new surprisingly quickly.

That's why they had to get back to the human realm before she found them again. The first thing she would do would do once she found them would be trying to hurt Allen. Lavi didn't know if he could fight Road and protect Allen at the same time.

Lavi looked down at the young man nestled in his arms. His startling green eyes took in the sleeping form of his husband. Poor kid must have passed out from pain and exhaustion. Lavi should get him to a healer soon so he wouldn't have to deal with the pain once he wakes up.

Already walking very fast in comparison to an average human, Lavi began increasing his speed. The arms cradling his husband did not jolt the young boy one bit, being unnaturally steady and betraying nothing of the speed at which he transversed the forest.

 _Keep going faster . . . keep going faster . . ._ Lavi's mind repeated as if it were a powerful mantra.

He did not want to deal with Road at the moment, wasn't even sure if he could.

 _Almost there._ He could feel the magic of the doorway ahead, it would bring them back to the temple with the ritual demons. Just in front of the temple was the tree with the doorway back to the human realm.

The trees that held both of these portals looked exactly like the rest of the normal trees surrounding them in both forests. The only way to tell which tree was magical was to sense its energy, something only demons could do.

Lavi had been pleased to note when he had first come back from his long imprisonment, that the demon community, though it was much smaller than in his time and were more or less in hiding, had not changed over the last hundred years.

They were still solitary and used the same lines of communication. The hidden pathways, entrances and meeting spots were still functioning and being used. He had also been pleased to discover through his communications those first few days, that demons were not so very close to extinction as he had first feared.

The presence of the portal before them grew stronger, but there was still a ways before even his sharp eyes picked up the form of the tree. Soon-

Something hit Lavi from behind. The blow was so strong and so unexpected that it blew him forward. He unconsciously let go of Allen, his unconscious body falling to the ground and Lavi himself left skidding across the ground from the force and landing on his stomach.

Emitting a pained grunt, Lavi flipped himself onto his back and sat up. Squinting his eyes open against the pain, dragging his hand through his messy red hair. The impact wasn't enough to break through his tough skin, but he did feel rather bashed in and disoriented.

"Al . . ?" Lavi called out, his throat sounding scratchy and raw. His green eyes searched the immediate area frantically, letting out a sigh of relief landed on Allen's prone form.

He would need to get Allen to a healer to know for sure, but the boy seemed to have been spared the attack that had been aimed at Lavi. What a relief.

"Don't ignore me!" A voice suddenly came from behind him. Lavi's head snapped around and there, behind him, was the exact person he hadn't wanted to see. There Road stood in her demon form, with gray skin and golden eyes as well as a row of stigmata along her forehead.

"Hey, Deak!" She said brightly, giving a slightly crazed smile. "Oh, but it's Lavi now, isn't it? Your little pet gave you that name, yes?" She asked, her voice taunting as she glanced over at Allen's unconscious body.

Lavi felt an angry growl leave his throat at the blatant threat, but he didn't lunge at her, not yet. Despite her appearance being even younger than Allen, she was much older than Lavi and if he had to say which one of them was more powerful, he might have to say it was her.

It might have been a better idea to defend, attacking would allow her the opportunity to lure him into a trap. "I have to say, I never thought you would go for someone so cute! I wonder if he would survive long enough after you die for me to keep him as a pet?" At this, she let out a childish giggle.

At this point, Lavi was almost seeing red, but he continued to hold back. "Well, we'll just have to see." She grinned and then lunged at him, a purple, spear-like weapon emerging out of her hand.

Lavi was quick and dodged out of the way, her spear slicing the tops off of the blades of grass where he sat. When using fire, it is important that the one doing it is in complete control of the fire or else the plants and other objects around them would get caught on fire.

Knowing he had to be extra careful in the middle of a forest, Lavi allowed the fire to flow from his hands and snake into the form of a whip. Wielding it how one would a whip, Lavi lashed it at Road. She moved, but not fast enough and it caught her on the cheek.

A ghastly scream flew from her mouth as she cupped a hand to her cheek. It was a long gash, bleeding profusely, with skin that was singed around the edges. Lavi got in a defensive position, getting ready for whatever she would throw at him and not a moment later, her eyes were trained back onto him, glowing with rage.

Just as it looks like she's about to attack him with everything she had, there was a moan and a cough from off to the side. It came from Allen, who was not quite awake, but was no longer unconscious.

Distracted, Lavi didn't notice the floating box materialize out of thin air and go towards him quickly until it slammed into him and he was sent flying again. The fire went out, the arm he was using to produce it was in a large amount of pain. He looked at her as he unsteadily got up.

Road's grin this time was inhumanly huge and insane. "You can protect yourself." She said conversationally, as Lavi struggled to get up. "But I bet you cannot protect the both of you!" Candles with spiked ends appeared in the air, about six of them, all pointing towards Allen.

Lavi's bright green eyes widened in horror and he forced his body into motion. The candles then flew through the air, all aimed at Allen. Utilizing his demonic speed and ignoring the pain, Lavi leaped towards his unconscious husband.

In order to stop the candles before they reached his husband and unable to stop Road as she had surrounded herself with a protective purple shield, Lavi threw himself between the boy and the candles.

Perhaps if he had had more time to think, he _may_ have been able to think of a defense that would have left both him and Allen unharmed, but in the moment he only thought of his husband's safety and his responsibility to protect him and so Lavi allowed the spikes to impale him instead of Allen.

As a rule, demons had no vital areas in their bodies, parts that they would die without. All they really needed was their body intact enough to heal. Not all of them healed as well as Road, but all demons at least healed quicker than humans. The only real way to kill a demon was either to kill their mate or to obliterate their body until there was almost nothing left.

Still, physical pain and serious injuries would result in them being bedridden until they could heal properly or, in Road's case, slow them down while they regenerate. The best way to take down a demon was to wound it and then to take the opportunity to proceed with vicious rapid-fire attacks.

Lavis body thudded to the ground, blood pouring out of several wounds in his torso and limbs. Lavi's mind got fuzzy, his body pulling all of its energy to try and heal. A gleeful, childish giggle sliced through the air as Road's small form eagerly bounced towards his prone form.

"What is wrong, Lavi? Not feeling well?" Once reaching him, she jumped up and landed heavily on the wounded demon's stomach, reopening the wounds that had just started to close.

Lavi let out a series of winded, bloody coughs and Road giggle some more at the sight. "Oh, you poor thing! Don't worry, I will take you out of your misery! The plan had always been to kill the cutie over there, but I can still keep him as a pet before he dies if I just kill you. Well, for a little while, at least."

With that, she grabbed a materialized candle from the air, holding it like a blade above him, leaving the spear discarded behind her. Her eyes got the craziest look yet as she said, "I am going to stab you again and again and again until there is nothing left of you, but a messy pulp of blood and bone! I wonder if the human will even survive until the end?"

Anything she might have said after that was lost, her own spear going straight through her chest. Lavi's eyes widened, watching as Road's pwn eyes grew huge and blood began to flow from her mouth. Road slumped forward and fell to the ground, her body seemingly in shock for the moment.

Standing behind her was Allen, eyes looking both angry and slightly vacant. The boy looked miserable, swaying in an unstable manner, his injuries obvious. Taking the opportunity his husband had just provided him, Lavi turned his hand to Road, who was just now trying to get up.

Fire shot out at her, setting the demon on fire. She screamed, both in pain and in rage, but Lavi didn't stop. Road nearly killed both him and Allen because Lavi hadn't finished what he started. Lavi felt weak with most of his energy going towards healing himself. Still, he poured as much power as he was able into the fire.

Road, while burning, tried to stop Lavi by creating more candles in the air and setting them upon him. As a result of her physical state, they were weak constructions and he was able to incinerate them before they reached him. Lavi's remaining energy was quickly being sapped away, but the demon pressed on for awhile longer, even after the screaming had stopped.

Finally, his fire failed him and he was forced to stop. Chest heaving, Lavi risked his first glance at Allen since Road fell, only to find him collapsed right beside him with his gray eyes closed. Initially, Lavi's chest swam with panic, thinking the worst. By the slow rising and falling of the young boy's chest, however, it quickly became apparent that he was either asleep or passed out again.

Allen was okay; they both were.

Lavi didn't even glance at the roasted demon on his other side. She was gone for good now and would never hurt them again. Allen and Lavi both needed their rest now before they dragged their bruised bodies back to the human realm.

Lavi's arms felt heavy as he moved his arms to wrap around Allen and pull his husband closer to himself. He felt Allen unconsciously snuggle into his chest as his eyelids grew undeniably heavier and began to droop closed. They would get some sleep and, in Lavi's case, heal up a bit and then they would get back through the portal.

The remembrance that he left Tyki still alive and the hope that the demon didn't come after them while they were sleeping briefly crossed Lavi's mind, but he was too drained and tired to give these thoughts proper attention as he allowed himself to embrace sleep.

A few hours later, Lavi would awaken and manage to carry a still sleeping Allen through the doorway and back to the temple.


	19. Under the Stars

"Lavi, I still do not know why we are doing this." Allen pouted as Lavi carried him up the steps of their new, luxurious home. Despite his words, Allen's fists were tightly clenched in the material of Lavi's shirt and the rest of his body was snuggled into the demon's.

"Because is tradition. Marriage is about compromise, my love." Lavi stated calmly. " I agreed on the less extravagant home because the bigger one made you uncomfortable. Now, relax and it will be over momentarily."

The "bigger one" had been an outright mansion, with over thirty rooms and a live-in staff of over one hundred. Allen had known that Lavi would not settle for anything he considered to be a hovel, but Allen just could not bring himself to live in such a huge mansion.

It was such a change in living conditions to go from just trying to scrape up enough food to having a hundred servants. Living with so many strangers would make Allen antsy and he would no doubt get lost several times in a home that big.

Which brought them to this home; a three story home that may not have been as rich as the previous one, but any who owned it would have to have a decent amount of money and it had the potential to be every bit the home to Allen that the mansion could not.

The exterior was made of rich wood and stone blocks. Lavi had also been thoughtful enough to only hire five servants and to make sure that they lived separately from the couple's home.

"What is the meaning behind _this_ tradition, then?" Allen tried to sound exasperated, but he could not help feeling excitement. So far, all of the small things with hidden meanings that Lavi had concerned himself with had ended up being heartfelt and touching; they were ways to show he cared.

Besides, Lavi did seem to enjoy talking about anything concerning demons and their traditions, possibly in excess.

Without missing a single beat, Lavi replied. "In most cultures, a groom carries his bride over the threshold of their home just after marriage as a promise to protect her from demons."

He said all this such without a hint of irony that Allen could not help letting out a little giggle. The boy could just imagine a small, lovely home with a newly married wife and husband inside and Lavi, in all his green eyed, red haired glory, laying siege to the little home. Allen knew his husband could likely be very intimidating if he truly desired, but the mental image was just too funny.

"So why is it that you are carrying me across the threshold of our home? Protecting me from demons?"

"Always." Lavi replied, coming to a stop before the open entranceway to their new home. Hmm . . . Lavi's mindset must have started affecting Allen, because this felt much more like a momentous event than it had a minute prior.

"-own?" Lavi's voice broke through the silver haired boy's musings.

"W-What?" Allen stuttered back at his husband,his cheeks flushing in embarrassment at being caught so lost in thought.

From his vantage point still cradled delicately in his husband's arms, Allen could very clearly see the amused expression on the redhead's face, as well as the humorous light that lit his eyes. Allen could definitely admit that his heart stuttered at seeing the vibrant green eyes his love possessed glowing with happiness.

"I merely asked if you wanted down?" Even his voice was filled with good humor.

Allen fought down a deeper blush and nodded his head in assent. In the next instant, Allen's feet were on the ground and his husband's hand was encompassing his own.

"It is about midday, so why do we not take a look around the house? We have not seen beyond the foyer yet and tomorrow we will be purchasing the furniture." Lavi spoke.

Gazing around at the several doorways leading out from the special foyer into different rooms and the wide stairway that lead to the second floor, Allen agreed. As his husband lead him through a random, which ended up leading into what seemed to be a space intended to be a dining room, a thought occurred to the boy.

"I assume that we must buy all of our furniture, including a bed?" After all, there were not even chairs in the rather large room, let alone a dining table.

"Yep." Lavi agreed carelessly.

"So are we going to sleep on the floor tonight, then?" Allen calmly asked. While sleeping on the floor was uncomfortable and, as a consequence, Allen never particularly enjoyed it.

Unbeknownst to the silver haired young boy, his proclamation resulted in his husband gazing at him with even more love than he normally did. This was a prime example of the very traits that made Allen special.

Any normal person, whether rich or poor, would have been reasonably upset when being told that they would have to sleep on the ground. Not Allen, though. Like with everything else that had been thrown at the boy since Lavi had met him, his husband took it in stride.

He never complained, only asked questions borne from pure curiosity. The boy was strong in more ways than he realized. Hopefully, in time, he would see himself as Lavi did. Until then, he could stand by his young husband's side.

As they ventured through the empty house, locating various rooms and deciding what they would become, something about the home's design became readily apparent. Considering their new home was a comparatively large three story house, it had surprisingly few rooms. On average, there were perhaps two or three rooms per floor.

The priority of whomever build their home seemed not to be packing a great deal of rooms onto the property, but instead to divide a lot of space into fewer rooms. So saying, there were large bedrooms, bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, kitchen and, of course, a gigantic foyer.

There was more than enough space for the both of them, the day servants and, should the mood strike them, they would have the space and facilities to host small parties. Though the more furnished rooms currently had one or two pieces in them, the home had been well-maintained, with not a speck of dust in sight.

Time flies as they tour the home, flitting from room to room and the two finished inspecting the property just as the light outside began to fade.

"We have no food or servants yet, so it seems that we must eat at an inn, once again." Despite the way his words sounded, the demon knew that neither of them really had any sort of problem with eating out.

There would even be the nice benefit of being the first time the two would experience the town they'd settled down in. The couple exited their home and, hand in hand, started their way down the street in search of a decent eatery. The sun had already begun to set, bathing the sky in a rich, blood red.

Looking up at it, Allen couldn't tear his eyes away from the beautiful sight. How he had not noticed this kind of beauty in the world before Lavi, the boy had no idea. Luckily, his husband seemed to notice where Allen's attention was and made sure that the boy did not bump into anything while they were walking so Allen could stare to his heart's content.

He felt all warm inside, the combination of a beautiful sight and a thoughtful husband creating a feeling similar to a lit fireplace in the young man's breast.

There weren't many people in the street, maybe one or two at any given time. Allen barely took his eyes off of the sky to notice them. Maybe once upon a time he would have cared what these strangers thought of him, but that wasn't him anymore.

Lavi had them duck into the next eatery they came upon. The dining space was darkly lit with equally dark wood tables. Upon entering, the couple sat at one of the tables and were quickly approached by a man who seemed to work there.

He did give them a sidelong glance, giving particular attention to their entwined hands on the table, but said nothing of it and proceeded to take their orders. Allen got the feeling from his expression and mannerisms that this was a man who was harsh and surly towards anyone on just about any day of the week.

So, while the man's imposing size and scowl made the boy a bit uncomfortable, he didn't let it bother him too much. The man did seem to perk up when Lavi ordered some of the more expensive menu items.

They received their food and finished dinner with no real problems and the two headed home. It was completely dark outside at this point and, just like with the sunset, Allen found himself staring up at the stars that shone in the sky with some sort of reverence.

Allen felt his lips twitch into a smile as, from the corner of his eyes, he saw Lavi looking at him with his own smile and a soft expression on his face. Their joined hands simultaneously tightened their grips.

After walking home, both men were exhausted. Due to the lack of a bed in their room, the couple did not even bother going inside and Lavi led them to the garden in their backyard. Allen gasped when he saw the garden. The moonlight fell softly on the flowered bushes and grass, painting them a deep blue in the dark of the night.

Allen didn't recognize the flowers and decided to ask his husband about them in the morning. If the garden looked this beautiful at night, Allen could only guess at how wondrous the sight would be come morning.

Lavi felt around on the grass, looking for an especially soft patch and then directed Allen to lay down on it. Shifting around until they were remarkably comfortable laying on the ground outside, the two husbands lay side by side, cuddled up against each other.

 _Lavi is so thoughtful._ Allen thought to himself as he cuddled with his love and looked up at the stars. He could have just had them lay on the floor inside the house or rent them a room at an inn for the night, but instead he took the opportunity to make the first night at their new home memorable.

Thinking of which, there was a question that had been bothering Allen for some time and it was about time he got his answer. "Lavi?" Allen started with his voice soft, wary of disrupting the silence.

"Hmm?" Lavi inquired, looking away from the sky to focus on Allen's face.

"How do you have so much money? It seems endless and you do not have a job . . ." Allen drew off, not knowing if he was being rude or not.

Lavi, in his usual good humor, simply smiled and answered the question. "Well, some demons in my time would do favors for money, such as retrieving stolen goods."

So Lavi did that? Somehow that just didn't seem to be the case for him. By the way the demon talked about his old self, he just did not seem the type to Allen.

"As well . . ." Deak reached into the inside pocket of his robes and retrieved a little, tan sack.

Allen's brain stopped working for a second and then immediately wondered how the answer to his question could be a sack. "Lavi . . ." Allen stated in a questioning voice.

"Yes, my love?" The demon asked, his lips turning up in a stupidly knowing grin.

"What is that?" Allen asked, ignoring the grin.

"This," Lavi gestured to the sack. "Is my heritage."

Allen wasn't about to play the question and answer game, so he waited for Lavi to continue, which he did.

"Contrary to the beliefs commonly held by humans, demons do not have an endless natural lifespan and we are born much like humans are. We do not appear out of nowhere."

Allen nodded, silently. He had gotten that feeling while getting to know Lavi. Before, though, Allen had heard stories about how demons are created that he had believed at the time.

One of the more popular origin stories that came to mind was that demons were created from the negative emotions of humans. The idea was that when there was sufficient enough fear, anger, hate and such in one location, it would all coalesce into one creature, which would be a demon.

Looking back on it, Allen thought this common belief said more about humans and how they viewed demons than it actually about the demons. Regardless, this view was very popular.

"Who were your parents?" Allen curiously asked before Lavi could continue.

"I do not know." Lavi shrugged carelessly, his features the very definition of passive. "As I said, demons are solitary creatures. Newborn demons can take care of themselves and do not normally feel the desire to seek out their parents or their protection.

It would not even matter if they did feel the urge, as most parents have already left them alone by the time the time the new demon awakens. It is not that the parents do not care about their children, it is simply that they feel no parental instinct urging them to care for their child and they also know that the child will be fine on their own."

Lavi looked thoughtful. "Most demons never meet their parents for even a few seconds of their lives. I know I have not. Raising children was always a human concept and I had never really thought about it until now."

The next couple seconds were spent staring at the stars in thoughtful silence. "And the sack?" Allen asked.

"Legend time!" Lavi announced excitedly. "So, the legend goes that in the very beginning of the existence of demons, every demon had a sack like this. These sacks produce an endless supply of gold and they never run out.

Now, since demons don't live forever, they would need to have a kid and pass the bag down to them to keep it in the family. Demons often have more than one kid, but those tend to be unintentional and so the oldest of the children wake up with the sack their parents left with them before moving on. The parents save a good amount of money before giving away their sack to their child."

Tucking the sack back into his pocket, Lavi asked his husband a question. "Did you perchance ever hear a story about a demon promising endless wealth to a human if they succeeded in lasting several years without bathing or cutting their hair?"

"Bearskin?" Allen asked, remembering the old wives tale that he heard as a child.

"That is one of its names and how does it end?"

Allen thought back to the old story for a moment and then opened his mouth. "The man wins his bet with the demon and it gives him . . . a sack . . . that never empties . . ." His voice drew off as he realized exactly why his husband brought up the story.

He was basically describing his husband's family heirloom. "So the demon in the story?" Allen inquired.

"Was probably an actual demon." Lavi finished. "One foolish enough to risk betting and losing his family gift to a human. In fact, the whole story is realistic enough that it could be very accurate to a real past event."

"So," Allen started, the familiar feeling of shock starting up. "You have a bottomless bag of gold coins and that is why you have such wealth?"

"Basically." Lavi replied, simply.

"Huh." Allen stated, really at a loss of what to say.

Because he was now gazing at the sky in thought, he did not notice his husband's hand reaching towards him until he comfortingly wrapped his hand around Allen's own. He glanced over at Lavi's face, which was laden with a deeply caring expression.

"You will never have to wonder when your next meal will come. I will make certain you never so much as feel hunger again." And Allen believed him, believed he would be taken care of.

Apparently deciding that there had been enough talk for one night, Lavi whispered, "Try to go to sleep, Al." He gently brought Allen's head down to lay on his shoulder. "Tomorrow, we will go buy furniture. We will start with a big, giant bed for our room." He cooed.

Allen's only reply was a content hum as he burrowed into his love's shoulder. The two had wordlessly come to the agreement that they would share a bedroom and a bed, even if they weren't quite ready to consummate their union.

That was okay with them, they would take their time cultivating the bond between them and their relationship would be all the richer for it.

* * *

 **Alright, so this is sadly the end, for now, anyway. Writing the ending, I really wanted to do a sequel. I'm probably going to take a break from this story before making its sequel, but I kind of set it up for one in this last chapter. I only have a rough idea so far, but I'm thinking the couple finds out Allen or Lavi is pregnant and all the stress that comes with it. So, yeah, I set it up. Also, I think that Inn Owner is going to be a minor character in any sequels. Be sure to tell me what you guys think of this idea!**

 **On the note of other stories, I'm thinking of doing one story at a time for a while, so I can update one story at least once a month, if not more. Due to requests, I'm also probably going to do a lemon soon. I've never done one, but I'm writing a oneshot between Lavi and Kanda, so I think I'll just go for it and see what happens.**

 **Good Day, All!**


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